


Here Comes the Sun

by itchyfingers



Series: The It Ain't Over World [4]
Category: Henry Cavill - Fandom
Genre: F/M, Food, Love, Music, Phone Sex, Romance, Sequel, Sex, Shower Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-31
Updated: 2014-04-12
Packaged: 2017-12-31 01:00:31
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 28
Words: 73,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1025474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itchyfingers/pseuds/itchyfingers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Henry Cavill sequel to the love triangle in It Ain't Over.</p><p>Henry’s on top of the world. He’s achieved his goal of being a superstar. He’s got a huge mansion and adoring fans. But the girl he loved left him to go follow her own dreams, and he’s wondering if he’ll ever find the girl that dreams of him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

_October 15, 2014_

Henry yawned and rubbed at his eyes as he stepped out onto the balcony that surrounded his bedroom. Birdsong layered over the sound of a distant boat engine. The ever-present smell of sage and yucca filled the warm air, along with the sweet scent of something flowering even in October. He could not get over how much he loved California and year round sunshine. It was worth every penny he had paid for this house. A quiet voice whispered that it was an awfully large house for a single man, but he scrunched one eye shut against the bright light and scratched the back of his head and ignored the pink sparkly murmur that teased at the limits of his hearing. He stretched and then leaned against the railing, letting the sunshine play over his back and warm his stiff muscles. He’d almost drifted off when his relaxation was brought to an abrupt end by a neighbor child.

“Princess Nora!” a little girl’s voice called out. He turned around to see an elfin blonde child running down the dirt road that surrounded the lake towards a woman out jogging. The jogging woman squatted down and held out her arms. The cherub threw herself into the woman’s arms and gave her a hug. “Princess Nora, do you have cookies?”

The woman laughed. She might actually be a Disney princess with a laugh like that, he thought. It was like a stream rushing over rocks. “Yes, chipmunk, I do. You know my cookie jar is always full.”

The little girl grabbed hold of the woman’s braid and tickled her nose with the end of it. “Can I have a cookie?”

The princess shifted the little girl onto her hip, smoothing out the purple and yellow fluffy tutu the little girl was wearing. “Well, if you ask your momma and she says it’s okay, the two of you can come over this afternoon and get a cookie.  _After_  your nap.” She tapped the little girl on the nose

Another woman, this one with blonde hair like the child, came running down the road towards the two of them. “Rachel! What have I told you about running away like that?”

“But it’s Princess Nora!” It was obvious that it being Princess Nora excused all sorts of misbehavior to the little girl.

The princess handed Rachel back to her mother. “But princesses have to learn to obey their parents and if your momma says not to run away, it’s to keep you safe, okay?”

“Okay.” The little girl pouted but grabbed onto her mother’s hand and walked with her back the direction from which she had come, waving a chubby hand at Nora over her shoulder.

Princess Nora bent and retied the laces on her running shoes as Henry watched. He had the next three months off before principal shooting on _Superman versus Batman_  started and he was planning on enjoying himself and relaxing. He’d still have to be putting in hours in the gym each day, but he could do that and have fun the rest of the time, like watching all the tanned woman running along the lake shore.

She stood, and as if she could sense him watching, looked up at him. “Hello!” she called and waved.

Slightly embarrassed at having been caught watching her, he waved back. “Hello.”

“Could I bother you for a minute?”

“Of course.”

She started walking up the path from the road to his property and he hurried down the stairs to the patio and met her by the side of the pool, the stone warm under his bare feet. “Hello, I’m Henry.” He held out his hand and she shook it. Her fingers wrapped around his with gentle pressure but she pulled them quickly away.

“I’m Nora. I live down the road three houses. It’s nice to finally meet you.”

“You too.” She was pretty, tan with blonde highlights that looked like the sun had put them there rather than a salon, and when she would look at him, big green eyes. She didn’t look at him much though, tending to look at his chest. Not in a creepy ogling way – he had gotten used to that – but as if she were shy. He wasn’t used to shy women.

“I don’t want to be a nuisance,” she tucked a strand of escaped hair back behind her ear, “but some drunk boater crashed into my dock last week and I have to have it rebuilt. Would you mind if I tied up my boat at your dock while the reconstruction takes place, if it wouldn’t be too much of a bother that is?”

“On one condition.”

She made eye contact at that, and her eyes were even wider than normal. “Oh, of course I’ll pay.”

Henry grinned. “No, it’s not that. Well, it’s kind of that. I was hoping I could get a cookie too.”

The rush of color tinting the tan of her cheeks was like watching a desert sunrise. “You heard that?”

He leaned towards her and whispered, “Are you really a princess? Should I bow to you? Kiss your hand?”

She laughed and lowered her eyes, long eyelashes brushing against her cheeks. She had a mole on the apple of one cheek. It looked like a beauty mark, but it wasn’t where women normally placed them and he wanted to touch it and see if it was real. She wasn’t wearing any other makeup that he could tell though, so he assumed it was real. “I catered Rachel’s third birthday party. It was a princess theme so I dressed up in costume and now she’s convinced that I’m a real princess. It took weeks to get rid of all the glitter.”

Memories of another glittery girl flashed through his mind. “You’re not normally a sparkly person?”

She wrinkled her nose. “It just gets in the cookie dough.”

 “You wouldn’t want that.”

“No, it ruins the flavor.” She looked past him at the house and then back to him. “You should come get a cookie though. Assuming you’re allowed to eat cookies.”

She was funny even if she had problems meeting his eyes. His brow arched as a smile tugged at his mouth. “I don’t even have to ask my mother’s permission.”

She smiled and blushed lightly before she looked down again. “Lucky boy. I was thinking more about your producers, though.” She worried the hem of her shirt between her finger and thumb. “Do they have you on a diet yet?”

Her eyes flicked up to his as he chuckled. “So you know who I am.”

“Everyone on the lake knows who you are. Gossip spreads fast around here.”

He dipped his head, trying to meet her eyes. “Well, I am on a bit of a diet, but right now I’m on the eat everything in sight part of the diet.”

“Then you shouldn’t come over for just a cookie.” She stopped fidgeting with the hem of her shirt and met his eyes. “Come over and eat dinner.” Her cheeks colored once more and she dropped her eyes back to his shoulder. “I’ve got more food than I know what to do with.”

“Right, because you cater.”

“Well, I did that as a favor. Mostly I test cookbooks.”

“Like you make the recipes to see if they work?”

“Yep.” She nodded, her eyes lingering on his for a few seconds as she talked. “It’s part of the editing process. Check for typos, make suggestions on how they can be improved, things like that.”

“What do you do with all the food you can’t eat?”

Her laugh was soft and as shy as she was. “Well, I try and foist it off on well-meaning neighbors.”

“Like me.” He grinned. “You may regret that offer. Eating is my favorite hobby.”

“Good, you can save me from,” she stopped and thought, “tacos. I’m testing recipes for taco fillings today. And salsas.”

“And if I don’t save you?”

Her eyes flickered up to meet his and then dropped back down to his chin. “I’m likely to drown in an avalanche of carne asada and chile verde.”

“Well,” he puffed out his chest a bit, a little bit of superhero swagger, “I can’t let that happen.”

“I appreciate your help.”

“So, what time should I come over?”

“About seven? I’m three houses down,” she pointed, “the one that looks like Rapunzel should be living there. Just come up the back.”

“I’ll be there.”

She looked at him and smiled before she dropped her eyes again. “I’ll see you tonight, then.”

“Until tonight.” He watched as she turned and jogged back down the path. He wouldn’t have noticed her normally in her black tee and calf-length jogging pants – she was definitely dressed for exercise and not for attention – but now that he had, he had a feeling that his next three months were going to become much more entertaining.


	2. Chapter 2

Even without the description of her house as the one that looked like Rapunzel lived there, Henry could have followed his nose and found Nora. The smell of grilling meat filled the air as he walked up the cobblestone path to her back garden. She hadn’t been kidding about the Rapunzel part.  Her house sat on top of a large stone outcropping protruding from the hillside that loomed up in a protective semi-circle, sheltering it from the view of the main road. He could see three separate towers made of the same rough cut stone as the main house. The first two stories were solid rock and then the third story had narrow windows piercing the stone covered in diamond shaped panes of glass. Each tower was topped with an exaggerated cone shape like a witch’s hat, one of which had a weathervane on top. He paused as the path he was on arched over a stream which cascaded down the face of the rock into a pond below that was surrounded by trees, obscuring it from the road around the lake. He kept walking before he gave in to the urge to jump off the bridge into the pond, especially since he didn’t know how deep it was. The path wound around a huge sprawling tree and over a drawbridge. Again he paused as he looked down into the moat. She had an actual moat with water in it. And people thought his house was over the top. The stone cobbles continued on the other side of the drawbridge as he went through the stone archway, past the mechanism to raise and lower the drawbridge, and he looked up and was not surprised at all to see a portcullis. It was like whoever built the house expected to be attacked by marauding pirates sailing the lake. The gatehouse opened into a fairly normal looking courtyard, surrounded on three sides by the house and open on the fourth to a view of the lake. “No wonder she thinks you’re a princess. You live in a castle.”

Nora turned around from the grill she was standing over and smiled at him. Her long skirt swirled and settled around her ankles as she moved. She was dressed simply, just a white t-shirt over a long knit skirt the color of pumpkins and a leather belt slung low around her hips, but with her long hair loosely drawn back and tendrils framing her face, she looked like a California beach princess. He wasn’t sure if the color in her cheeks was because of him or because she had been standing over open flames, but she looked beautiful.

“Yes, I’m afraid my parents had more money than good sense when they built it.”

Henry’s brows lifted. “You live with your parents? Are they going to be joining us for dinner?” That wasn’t what he had thought was on the agenda for the evening.

“Oh, no, it’s just me here.” She turned back to the grill and flipped over the skirt steaks and lowered the lid on the grill. “Those need a few more minutes. I’m sorry I mistimed things.”

“It’s no problem. It smells incredible though.”

She smiled up at him as she fidgeted with the tongs. “Thank you.”

“This is an amazing setup you have out here. You must host amazing parties.” He ran a hand over the marble counter set on stacked stone platforms with all sorts of metal drawers set into them. He recognized the sink, the stove, and the fireplace which looked like it was designed to cook in. Other than that he had no idea what she had going on out here.

“I had it built earlier this year with the plan to have all sorts of elaborate soirees, but uhm, I think my mind is Martha Stewart but the rest of me is terrified of calling up a bunch of people and asking them over.” She looked up at him and smiled and then back down at the counter. “You’re actually the first person I’ve had over to try out everything.”

Henry decided his goal for this evening was to get her to look at him for longer than three seconds at a stretch. “Well, I’m honored to be your first. Is there anything I can do to help?”

She grinned as she put a cutting board next to the grill. “I’m actually pretty bad about sharing my kitchen. But, if you want to help, you can try out the salsas I made.”

“Eating I can do.”

She set a series of bowls in front of him as he seated himself on one of the barstools. Each bowl had a different salsa in it in varying shades of red and the last one was green, and they all fit together in a long narrow tray. She added a bowl of tortilla chips. “Help yourself.”

He had a chip halfway to his mouth when she gasped, “I haven’t even offered you a drink yet. I’m having gin and tonic but I can mix you something else and I’ve got beer as well.”

“Gin and tonic is perfect.”

She crossed to the other counter and grabbed another highball glass from the collection she had tucked in a cubby. She squeezed a lime wedge into the glass, added some ice cubes from a metal bucket she had sitting next to the barware, poured in a generous mixture of gin and real tonic water and then garnished it with another wedge of lime. He smiled as she handed it to him. The bartender in him approved of her technique.

She flipped open the grill and pulled the steaks off onto the cutting board as he sipped his drink. “Those need to wait a minute before I cut them. What do you think of the salsa?”

“They’re good. I really like this one with the black bits in it.” He dipped another chip into it.

“Mmmm, good tastebuds. That one I roasted all the ingredients over the fire before I made it. Have you tried this one yet?” She pointed at the salsa that had an orange tinge.

“No.”

“Be careful. It’s hot.”

Henry arched an eyebrow. “I think I can handle it.”

“Suit yourself.” She leaned her hip against the counter and watched as he scooped up a generous amount of the salsa and popped the chip into his mouth. The crunch of the chip was loud and then he sucked in a mouthful of air and started fanning his mouth. He grabbed for his glass as sweat broke out on his forehead and his face turned red. She started laughing and shoved the bowl of chips towards him. “Don’t drink, eat. I’ll be right back.”

She ran into the house as he started cramming chips into his mouth. She quickly came back with a full glass of milk. “Here. Best thing to cut the burn.” He grabbed the glass from her and tilted his head back, draining it as fast as he could while Nora giggled.

“Holy hell, Nora, what was in that?” he asked as he set the glass down.

“I think it was a typo. It called for a tablespoon of habañero, but I think it meant a teaspoon, and even that would be a lot of heat.”

He sucked in another mouth of air. “I didn’t realize your job was so dangerous.”

“I warned you.” She was still giggling. “Do you want some more milk?”

“No, I’ll survive. Are any of the rest of these likely to kill me?”

She shook her head, still smiling. “No, you should be safe.”

She diced the steaks as he watched, mesmerized by the rapid precise movements of the knife. He knew his way around a kitchen, but he had nothing on her. “Are you sure there’s nothing I can do? I feel incredibly rude sitting here while you’re working away.”

“I guess you can start putting things on the table if you want, but you’re fine sitting there. You are my guest.”

He stood up and dusted his hands off on his jeans. “I prefer to help when I can. What needs to go on the table?”

“Well, the salsa first.” He took the habañero salsa off the tray and left it on the counter before he put the rest on the table. They moved around each other easily as she told him what to get and from where and she pulled out bowls of meat from the warming oven and added the carne asada to the empty spot in the divided stoneware bowls.

“Oh, and the lime wedges.” She pointed to the bowl on the bar. He took her glass and made her a fresh gin and tonic before he carried it and the bowl of limes to the table.

She placed the meat on the table and then seated herself. Henry helped her scoot in her chair. “You didn’t have to make me a new drink, I could have done that.”

“I wanted to. And it was no bother.” He claimed the seat next to her. “I actually supported myself bartending before I got my break. I still do it when I go home sometimes just for fun.”

“Well, aren’t you just full of surprises? I bet you got lots of tips, too.”

A corner of his mouth quirked in a smile. “What do you mean by that?”

She blushed and looked down, adjusting the napkin in her lap. “Just…you. Attractive, charming, English accent, I bet half of the dollar bills had numbers written on them.” She giggled and looked up at him. “And you still manage to blush.”

Henry looked back up at her grinning. “Well, thank you, but technically, it’s not English, it’s British.”

“Where are you from?”

“Jersey.”

“Like the cows?”

“Like the cows.”

She rubbed her earlobe. “How awful is it that I don’t really know where that is?”

“It’s a little island off the coast of Normandy. We’re actually closer geographically to France than to England.”

“But saying you’re English is like telling a Scot that he’s English?”

“Exactly.”

She nodded. “I’ll try to remember that. Now eat before it gets cold. We’ve got carne asada, sweet chili pork, a chile verde style pork, and tequila marinated chicken. And then whatever toppings you want.”

Both of them took a warm corn tortilla. Henry went for the carne asada and Nora tried the sweet chili pork. She squeezed a lime over hers and dribbled a handful of the green salsa over the top before adding a final garnish of cilantro and diced white onions. Henry added pico de gallo to his along with a wedge of lime and a few leaves of cilantro. He took a bite, aware that Nora was watching him for a reaction. He didn’t have to fake anything. He groaned and covered his mouth as he chewed. “This is amazing.”

Nora smiled and took a bite of hers. She frowned and dipped a chip into the green salsa and held it out to Henry. “Is that sauce too acidic?”

He took the piece from her fingers with his mouth and winked at her. He chewed thoughtfully while the heat crept up her neck and flushed her face. “It’s got a bit of a bite to it. Hits you in the back of the throat.”

“That’s what I thought. I’ll be right back.”

She shoved her chair back and fled into the house only to return a minute later with a pad of paper, a pen, and an avocado. She placed these on the table and retrieved a knife and bowl from the counter and came back. “Sorry, I need to keep notes about what works and what doesn’t or I’ll forget. So, too much habanero in the one sauce, and the tomatillo is too acidic. Anything else not doing it for you?”

“Everything else has been fantastic.”

“Okay.” She put the pen down and picked up the knife and avocado. She cut into it and quickly worked the knife around, cutting the fruit in half. She held the half with the pit in the palm of her knife and whacked the blade into the seed, twisted her wrist and the seed popped out. She knocked the seed against the table and the pit popped off the blade, sporting a deep cut in its side.

He sat back in his chair as he watched her. “Aren’t you afraid you’re going to cut yourself doing that?”

Nora looked from the green fruit in her hand up to him, her eyes narrowed. “What, pitting an avocado?”

“Waving a knife around like that.”

She snickered. “No. I know what I’m doing. Besides, most people who hurt themselves do it because they are being too timid. If you hit the pit hard, the blade goes right in. If you are weak, it can bounce off and that’s when you end up slicing open your palm. As long as your knife is sharp, you’re fine.”

“And you keep your knives sharp, I take it.”

“Of course. I could shave you with this if I needed to.”

He leaned towards her, resting his elbows on the table. “Have you shaved someone with your knife before?”

Her eyes widened, the green darkening as her pupils dilated. “Uhm, no. You don’t want beard bits in your cookie dough either.”

“Right.”

She moistened her lips, pulling them in between her teeth, the tip of her tongue between them, and then looked back down at the forgotten fruit and shook her head. She scooped the avocado out into the bowl, poured in some of the green salsa and then mashed it with a fork. She scooped up some with a chip and tasted it. She added some salt, squeezed a wedge of lime over the top and then mashed again. Another chip, another taste, and she nodded. “Do you want to try it?”

“Only if you feed me again.”

She took a chip and scooped up some of the guacamole and held it out to him. He closed his hand over her trembling fingers for a moment before he took the chip from her.

“That’s really good,” he pronounced after trying it.

“It just needed something creamy to cut that acid. Now it’s more balanced.”

She made herself a new taco and they went back to eating. When Henry was mostly done with his second one, he said, “Forgive me if this is too personal, but you’re an amazing chef. Why don’t you have your own restaurant? You should be writing your own cookbooks, not testing someone else’s.”

Nora worried the neckline of her shirt between her thumb and forefinger. It reminded him of his little brother with his cuddle blanket when he had been younger. “I worked in a restaurant for a while. It…,” she sighed, “it didn’t go well.”

“What happened?”

“Have you ever been in a professional kitchen?”

“No.”

“Lots of people, small space, it’s loud and hectic and very high pressure. I, um, didn’t cope well.”

Her story was starting to sound familiar. “Start drinking the cooking wine?”

She snorted and her eyes flickered up to his for a moment. “No. And never buy anything labeled as cooking wine. Blech. I started having panic attacks before going into work and then I had one at work during the dinner rush and quit before I got fired.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s something I’ve dealt with my whole life. I have all these ideas of things I want to do, but then I actually start to do them and I panic and can’t breathe and usually breathing is a prerequisite for all of my plans.”

“It probably would be.” He placed a hand gently on top of her slightly shaking fingers.

She looked at his hand carefully wrapped around hers. “You must think I’m pathetic.”

“No. I think you must be very brave to deal with something like that on a daily basis.”

“That’s very kind of you to say.”

“I mean it. You’re still finding a way to cook, something you obviously love, even if you can’t do it in a restaurant. Have you thought about writing a cookbook?”

She cocked her head to the side as she smiled ruefully. “Of course I have. But trying to get a publishing deal without having some sort of name recognition is almost impossible. Why would anyone want to buy a cookbook from someone they haven’t heard of?”

His fingers tightened around her hand. “If the name recognition issue wasn’t there, what kind of cookbook would you want to write?”

“I’d like to be the next Julia Child. She taught a whole generation of people how to cook but most people don’t eat the kind of foods she made anymore. We’re not just French, we’re all over the culinary map. So, I want to teach the techniques that make it possible to cook Thai and Mexican and Indian curries and Morrocan couscous versus Israeli couscous, and do a weekday version of the recipe that you can throw together in under an hour, and then a weekend version that takes longer but has the extra layers of flavor, so people can choose what fits their schedule.”

Her face lit up as she talked, and she looked at him the whole time. “That sounds amazing.”

“Well, I think it would be. I just have to figure out how to get famous first.” She reached for her glass. “You know, without ever talking to anyone.”

“You’re talking to me.”

She pulled her hand free from his. “Yeah, and I almost threw up after I left your place this morning.”

“You don’t need to be scared of me. I don’t bite. Unless I’m asked to.”

Her eyes narrowed as she looked at him. “You’re very flirty.”

Henry cocked an eyebrow and grinned lopsidedly. “Is that a problem?”

She sat back in her chair and crossed her arms across her chest. “My girlfriend might have problems with it.”

The smile faded as Henry’s mouth dropped open. “Oh.” His eyes were wide. “I didn’t know you had a girlfriend. I thought–,”

She started giggling and he sat back as he realized she was teasing him. He shook a finger at her as she continued to laugh.

She shook her head. “Your face is adorable.”

“Thank you.”

“No, really.” Her cheeks were red, but this time it was from laughing. “It’s so expressive. I just want to watch you talk. I guess that’s a good trait for an actor, huh?”

Henry nodded, suddenly very conscious of the way he was raising his eyebrows, pressing his lips together, nodding his head.

She covered her face with her hands. “I’m sorry, I embarrassed you. I’m so sorry.”

He reached out and gently took one of her hands in his and tugged it away from her face. “You’ll have to work harder than that to embarrass me. I have four brothers after all.”

“You do?”

“Yes. And we made embarrassing each other into an art form.”

“Like what?”

Henry told stories over dinner of the pranks he and his brothers played on each other. Toilets plastic wrapped, beds short sheeted, hands dipped in warm water while sleeping, dates sabotaged, phone calls to girls pretending to be one of the other boys, subscriptions to girlie magazines in the other’s name, all the sorts of mischief you would expect from five brothers. They ate their way through all the options she had assembled, mixing and matching the meats with the sauces. They both agreed the chile verde was bland and Nora jotted more notes about what had worked and what didn’t.

Henry took her glass when it was empty and got up to make them both fresh drinks. She touched his hand. “You really don’t have to do that.”

“You cooked, I’ll bartend, alright?”

He earned another smile from her, and a soft, “If you insist.”

“I do.”

He brought their drinks back.“What should we drink to?” she asked.

“To perfect evenings,” he suggested.

“To perfect evenings.” They clinked glasses and both drank.

“So do you have siblings?”

She shook her head. “Nope, just me. The princess in the tower.” She giggled, and Henry could tell she was feeling the same gentle buzz as he was, a combination of the food and company and flirtation and the alcohol. He had been leaning more towards the gin than the tonic when making their drinks.

“Did you ever pretend to be Rapunzel? Stick your hair out the window?”

“Of course. But I would also play with my dolls and when they would fight one of them would throw the other one out the window to her gruesome demise, so I wasn’t all pink unicorns and glitter rainbows.”

“A bit of the tomboy in you.”

Nora nodded. “Yeah. I wanted to run away from home when I was six, and my dad said I could as soon as I learned how to take care of myself in the wild because he didn’t want me getting hurt or being hungry. And that made sense to me because I didn’t want to get hurt or be hungry; I just wanted to stay up past my bedtime. So he taught me all sorts of outdoorsy stuff. I can navigate by the stars or with a compass and map, I know which plants in this area are edible, I can start a fire without matches, how to collect water. By the time I learned everything he thought I needed to know I didn’t want to run away anymore.”

Henry smiled and brushed his thumb over the back of her hand. “You have a smart dad.”

She nodded. “It’s where I learned to love being outside. I joined Brownies – do they have Brownies in Jersey?”

“What’s a Brownie? I’m assuming you don’t mean the dessert or the hobgoblin.”

She shook her head with a laugh. “No, they’re little girl scouts. They have the uniforms with the sashes?” She gestured in a diagonal across her chest.

“Oh, like Girl Guides?”

Her eyes widened in recognition and she nodded. “Yeah, they’re the junior version of that. I joined Brownies and loved it. Never really left Brownies. I was a youth leader and now I have my own troop.”

“You have your own group of Brownies?” He bit his lip as he tried not to laugh, but his cheeks gave him away.

“Why is that so funny?”

He shrugged, the knit of his shirt moving across his shoulders. “I’m just trying to imagine you surrounded by a group of what, seven and eight year old girls?”

She nodded and took another swallow of her drink.

“I’d like to see that sometime.”

“Well, we’re having our meeting tomorrow and we’re training for the Turkey Day fun run, so if you look outside around three thirty, you might see me chasing them around the lake.” He got another smile from her and she had been looking at him the entire time she had been talking about Brownies. “They make up in energy what they lack in form.”

“I’ll make sure to keep an eye out. So what do you do with your girls when you’re not chasing them around the lake?”

Nora told him stories about her adventures with the Brownies, including one particularly harrowing trip when she tried taking ten girls camping with just one other adult. A raccoon getting in one of the tents had started a night of mishaps that were only comical now that they were long over with, including five different trips to the bathroom in the middle of the night, a rainstorm, ghost stories that were a little too realistic, all of the girls trying to fit into one tent after the ghost stories, and the discovery that little girls could snore like lumberjacks.

Henry told her about camping with his brothers and they shared stories of crazy family vacations as the sky grew dark and the waning moon rose overhead. The stars were shining as Henry finally sat back and sighed. “I should probably go, but I want to help clean up first.”

“You don’t need to.”

He cocked his head and raised an eyebrow. “I am at the very least going to help you carry things into the house.” He would brook no opposition to this.

“Only if you agree to take home some of this leftover food.”

“I can do that.”

He started carrying dishes into her house and putting them on the counter in her enormous kitchen while she wiped down the table and counters outside. By the time she joined him inside he was already wrist deep in sudsy water, washing glasses.

“You don’t have to do that.”

“I know, but I want to.”

“You are a crazy man.” She started packaging the leftover food, putting each kind of meat in a separate Ziploc bag, and then a smaller bag for the rest of the fire roasted salsa, and another bag of the tortillas. She dumped the rest of the pico de gallo and cilantro in the final bag and then put all the plastic bags in a paper bag for him to take home with him. He was finishing loading up the dishwasher as she turned around. She grabbed her knives out of the cutlery tray. “These don’t go in there.”

“Ah, sorry.”

“It’s alright. Just…no.” She grabbed a tea towel and carefully dried her knives and then placed them in the wooden block with its mates.

“Are there any other things I shouldn’t put in there?”

She pulled out the trays and looked. “No, all that’s fine. I have some pots and pans that I hand wash but I didn’t use them tonight.” She shut the dishwasher. “Thank you for your help.” She handed him the bag of food. “The food safety person in me says we should just get rid of all of this meat because it sat out for a few hours while we ate, but just promise me you’ll heat it up thoroughly before you eat it.”

“I promise.”

They looked at each for a long moment before Nora said, “I’ll walk you to the bridge?”

“That would be nice.”

The path was large enough for two, and carefully placed lights in the plantings cast enough light to illuminate the path without dispelling the intimate atmosphere of walking through the trees with the wedge of moon shining overhead. They were silent until they reached the bridge where they stopped and looked at each other again.

“Do you ever get the urge to jump off the bridge into the pond?”

“Oh, I’ve done that before.”

Henry’s head bobbed back a bit as his nose wrinkled. “Really?”

Her head tilted as she looked up at him. “You seem surprised.”

“You’re a ball of contradictions. You tell me you’re shy but then you fling a knife around and jump off bridges into ponds and have your own Brownie troop.”

“Well, knives don’t embarrass you, they just make you bleed, and little kids aren’t scary. I’m fine until they hit puberty. And the bridge is here to jump off of. When they put the swimming pool in, they made sure to make it safe for jumping.”

Henry looked over the edge at the dark water below. “That’s a swimming pool?”

Nora nodded. “There’s a hot tub tucked away down there where you can’t see it, too.”

“But it looks like a pond.”

She giggled again. “Like I said, my parents had more money than sense when they built this place, and that was before I was born, back when real estate was a whole lot cheaper.”

“Where are your parents now?”

“My dad died when I was fourteen, and my mom is in,” she stopped and laughed, “I think she’s in Paris right now. She’s ‘finding herself.’ She must be really lost because she’s been looking for a few years.”

Her laugh was beautiful, and with the moonlight shining on her she looked like she was some sort of fairy princess who had stepped out of her time and into his. Or maybe she had brought him into her domain. “Were you planning on asking me over when you saw me this morning?

She looked down at her feet. “No. I really was going to just ask about using your dock.”

“What made you change your mind?”

She looked up at him through her eyelashes. “You saying you didn’t have to ask your mother if you could have a cookie. It was cute. It made you seem less scary.”

“Did I seem scary?”

She nodded. “You’re big and famous and I didn’t know you.”

He set the bag down and stepped a little closer. “Am I still scary now that you know me better?”

“Maybe a little bit.”

He touched her cheek. “Am I too scary to kiss goodnight?”

She blinked several times. “You want to kiss me goodnight?”

“I really do.”

She swallowed loudly. “Okay.”

She wasn’t looking at him, instead looking at the water running under the bridge. He gently ran his thumb over her cheek, feeling the heat of her blush, and tilted her head towards him. Her eyes flickered from his mouth to his eyes and back again as he bent his neck and lightly brushed his lips against hers. She didn’t move as he did it again, but the third time her lips softened and she returned the caress. His hand firmed against her cheek as he tilted his head, allowing himself to focus on the soft curve of her upper lip. She rested one of her hands on the placket of his shirt and he felt the fabric pull as she curved her fingers into it. He brought up his other hand so he was cradling her face as they kissed, her touch as shy as her personality. He knew anything other than the most tender of kisses would startle her back into her shell so he focused on the softness of her lips and the silken feel of her hair and then pulled back when he heard her breath get shaky. Her eyes fluttered open and she smiled at him, actually holding his gaze.

“I had a lovely time tonight, Nora, even though I never did get a cookie.”

She returned his teasing smile. “I can go get you one.”

“No. It will give me an excuse to come back.”

She stroked her fingers over the buttons on his polo shirt. “You don’t need an excuse.”

A slow crooked smile spread across his face and he blinked slowly. “That’s good to hear. I’ll keep an eye out for you and your Brownies tomorrow.”

“I’m sure you’ll hear us before you see us.”

“And maybe after they’re gone, I’ll come over and get a cookie.” He raised an eyebrow in question.

She nodded. “I would like that.”


	3. Chapter 3

Henry swore under his breath as he opened the glass doors leading to his patio. His trainer had decided that today was one of the days he was going to push Henry past his breaking point, and somehow Henry didn’t think Mark would understand him asking to leave early so he could watch for a pack of Brownies. He glanced at his watch. Four o’clock. He sighed, positive he had missed Nora, but he lifted his face to the sun, letting it finish drying his hair from the shower he had rushed through at the gym. He was about to go back inside when the sound of laughing girls caught his attention. He opened his eyes but he didn’t see them anywhere. As he listened, he realized they had to be behind the trees that separated his property from his neighbor’s. They must be heading back to Nora’s.

As the girls came running into view around the trees, he walked down the steps to the road, reaching it just as Nora rounded the corner. He smiled at her and she smiled back, only ducking her head for a moment before she met his eyes again. “Hello, girls,” he said.

The group of eight little girls stopped and stared at him with wide eyes and then looked at Nora. “Girls, this is one of our neighbors, Henry Cavill. Can you all say hello to Mr. Cavill?”

Henry was greeted by a chorus of hellos as their suspicious ‘are you a stranger’ faces turned into smiles. He squatted down so he would be on their level. “You can call me Henry.”

“Why do you sound funny?” asked one of the girls. She was missing a tooth and had freckles scattered over the bridge of her upturned nose.

“Olivia, that’s not a nice thing to say,” Nora scolded as she brushed her fingers apologetically against Henry’s shoulder.

“It’s because I’m not from here, Olivia. I’m from a far away island called Jersey. Everyone there sounds like me and if you came to visit, we would think  _you_ sound funny.” He had gotten used to questions about his accent from meeting children after  _Superman_.

“Why are you so big?” This was from a girl with a heavy fringe and a Beatles t-shirt.

“Isabella!”

Henry chuckled. “Well, I’m an actor, and I play Superman, so I have to work out a lot to get big.”

Isabella’s eyes narrowed. “Why aren’t you wearing your Superman outfit?”

Henry grinned at the skeptical little face. “Why aren’t you wearing your Brownie uniform?” He was a little disappointed Nora wasn’t in her uniform, though she still looked cute in her t-shirt and loose running pants that ended right below the knee.

“We don’t wear it when we’re running. We wear clothes that are more ‘propriate.”

Henry’s nose crinkled as he nodded his head. “And I only wear the Superman costume when I’m making the movie.”

“Are you Miss Nora’s boyfriend?”

Why was it always the most innocent looking ones who asked the most dangerous questions? Henry looked up at Nora who had yanked her hand back from his shoulder but didn’t seem to know what else to do with that question and then back to the little blonde girl who was chewing on her thumbnail while waiting for an answer.

Like sharks scenting blood in the water, the girls pounded on his hesitation. “Do you like her?” “Have you kissed her?” “Are you going to get married?”

Henry swallowed and then ran a hand through his hair as he decided how to answer the question. “I  _do_ like her, but we haven’t known each other very long, so we’re just friends right now.”

“Are you going to ask her to be your girlfriend?” the little blonde girl asked. She was determined to ascertain the exact status of their relationship.

Henry chuckled as Nora cut in to save him from having to answer that question. “Okay, girls, who has a question for Henry that has nothing to do with me?”

A little girl in the back who had been quiet the whole time piped up. “Do you know how to build a campfire?”

Henry gave a silent prayer of thanks for the change in the topic. “Yes, I do. What’s your name?”

“Tarryn. Do you want to go camping with us? We’re going camping next month.”

Henry looked up at Nora who was now staring into the trees overhead, a hand covering her face, and brushed his hand against her calf. “Um, I’m not sure boys are allowed to go on Brownie camping trips, Tarryn.”

“My dad went on the last one!” Tarryn replied. “He was adult supervision.” She struggled with the last word.

Henry wondered how he was going to work around this one. He was fairly sure there was a significant difference between one of the fathers going along to chaperone and the troop leader’s boyfriend. “Well, I’m afraid I don’t have any daughters to be a dad to.”

“You and Miss Nora should get married and have a baby,” Olivia chimed in. “Then you could be a dad.”

Nora made a strangled noise. “Alright, it’s time we get going so we have time for cookies before you get picked up. First one to the house gets to decide what we listen to while we eat.”

The girls took off running and shouting and Nora watched them go before she turned to Henry, her face still mostly hidden behind her hands. “I am so sorry. I had no idea they would do that to you.”

Henry grinned and stroked the exposed part of her cheek with a single finger. “It’s just like having siblings. You now have eight little sisters very interested in every facet of your personal life.”

She peered at him between her fingers. “You’re not mad?”

He chuckled and tugged her hand away from her face. “No. I used to do that to my brothers’ girlfriends.” He stopped and thought. “I actually did worse than that. I asked one of them if they’d had sex yet.” His eyebrow arched. “With my parents in the room.”

Nora laughed. “I think for the first time in my life I’m glad I was an only child.” She paused and her eyes flickered away from his. “You still want to come over for a cookie?” she asked his shoulder.

He couldn’t help but lean in closer to her. “Absolutely.”

Her cheeks took on a flush of color as she looked down at the ground between them for a moment before she looked back up at him. “Give me about an hour?”she asked tentatively.

Henry checked to make sure none of the girls were within eyeshot and then gave her a quick kiss. “I’ll see you then.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this is short, but the next part is long and I didn’t want to make you wait any longer than you already have for an update.


	4. Chapter 4

Henry knocked on the frame of the open door before sticking his head in. “Hello?”

Nora looked up and smiled. “Come on in.” She was standing at the kitchen island adding ingredients to the work bowl of a standing mixer. “The girls cleaned me out of cookies, so I’m making a new batch.”

“You didn’t have to do that for me.” He kissed her on her cheek as she ran her finger down the list of ingredients on the recipe sitting on the counter. Her hand paused as she blushed and then kept going.

“I’m not doing it for you. One of my rules is that there are always cookies in my kitchen.” She raised the bowl into position and turned the mixer on.

He leaned against the counter as she washed her hands and then got a damp towel and wiped down the countertop. “What kind are you making?”

“Double chocolate peanut butter.”

He made a sound of delight. “How has some man not snatched you up by now?”

She stopped cleaning the counter and looked at him. “I’m pretty sure I have some say in who gets to snatch me.” She shook her head and gave the counter a wipe. “But if you’re going there, why isn’t there a Mrs. Superman?” She turned off the machine and removed the bowl from the mixer, dumped in the chocolate chips and roasted peanuts from a dish on the counter and started stirring them in with a big wooden spoon. She looked up at him. “I’m sorry; did I hit a sore spot? I was just teasing.”

Henry blinked and looked at her, obviously coming back from wherever his thoughts had wandered. “No, you’re fine. I was dating a girl and it was really complicated and she finally broke it off about three months ago.” He looked down at his feet. “She called me Superman.”

She stopped stirring. “I’m sorry.”

He gave her a crooked smile. “No, it’s not your fault. I loved her, but we wanted different things out of life and she’s right. It wouldn’t have worked out long term.”

“What was the sticking point?” The color climbed in her cheeks and she looked down at the bowl in her hands. “I mean, if you want to share that. It’s totally none of my business.”

He put a finger under her chin and tilted her face back up so they were looking at each other. “No, you should ask. I think that was the problem.” His mouth twisted as if he had sucked on a lemon. “My relationship with her was off and on so much that we never really sat down and talked about any of those things that matter long term. I wanted marriage and a bunch of kids, and she was wedded to her career and didn’t want kids for a while and then only one or two.”

She kept her face up but her eyes dropped to his shoulder. “It must have been serious for you to be talking about marriage.”

He bent his knees and tilted his head so he could see her face and winked. The pink in her cheeks deepened a few shades and when he stood back up she met his eyes with a bashful shake of her head. “We weren’t discussing getting married, not as erratic as things had been, but she had a job opportunity back in London and I didn’t want her to go and that’s when everything came out and I,” his mouth twisted again and he rubbed his hands against his jeans, “honestly, I was a real jerk about the whole thing.”

“Did you hurt her?”

His brows rose. “You mean did I hit her? No. Absolutely not.”

“I wouldn’t think you would. I mean, did you say hurtful things? On purpose?”

His shoulders slumped and this time he wouldn’t meet her eyes. “Yeah, I did. I actually told her that she was delusional for thinking she was going to succeed.”

“Ouch. No wonder she dumped you.”

“Yeah. I was so confident that I knew what she was capable of more than she did. She proved me wrong though. Three months and she’s already well on her way to accomplishing her dreams. And I’m here, wondering when I became the arrogant bastard who tells other people they aren’t going to accomplish anything.”

Nora went back to stirring the chocolate chips into the dough. “I can understand not wanting her to leave, but that was definitely not the right way to go about it.”

“I know. And to make it worse – as if that wasn’t bad enough – she’s a recovering alcoholic, and I told her that she had lost her chance because of what she had done while she was drunk. So I targeted her weaknesses.” He shook his head. “I don’t know why I’m telling you all of this. It sure doesn’t paint me in a positive light.”

 “You feel like confessing your sins? I’m not the one to give you absolution, though.”  

His smiled lacked its normal cheer, dimmed by the memories of how he had treated Halla. “Maybe I just want to give you a chance to kick me out now before I hurt you too.”

“Wow, you sure are gloomy.”

He shook his head and pulled at the collar of his shirt, finding it suddenly tight. “I’m sorry.”

“Just think of it as an opportunity to learn from your mistakes and not do it again.”

“Are you always this optimistic?” He stuck his finger into the bowl and scooped out some of the cookie dough and Nora smacked the back of his hand with her wooden spoon.

“Ow!”

“Don’t put your finger in the cookie dough.” She tossed her spoon into the sink and got out a clean one.

“My mom always let us snitch some.”

Her eyebrows rose and her chin lowered as she regarded his slightly pouty face. “Well, I’m not your mom. And you can have as much as you want, just use a spoon.” She plucked a spoon from a canister on the counter and handed it to him. She held out the bowl and he scooped out a spoonful.

“So don’t put your knives in the washer and don’t stick my fingers in the cookie dough,” he said around a mouthful of dough. “Any other rules I should know about?”

“I’m sorry. There’s just things that get trained into you in school, and I don’t know what the equivalent things are for being an actor but there’s some things you just don’t do, and sticking your fingers in the food is one of them.”

He nodded and took another bite off the spoon. “Like talking on a live set.”

“Sure.”

He looked at his empty spoon and then back up at her. “So if I want more cookie dough I should get a clean spoon, right?”

She laughed. “Yes.”

Henry watched her start scooping the dough out and putting it in huge balls on parchment lined sheets. “Is there something I can do to help?”

“You’re fine. This doesn’t take long.”

He made a little sound of frustration in his throat. “How many dates do I need to take you on before you let me actually help?”

She pushed a finished tray of cookies at him and handed him a bowl of coarse salt. “Sprinkle a little bit on the top of each cookie.” She took a pinch of the salt and demonstrated.

“I should wash my hands first.”

She smiled at him. “Yes, you should.”

Between the two of them the trays were soon ready and Nora opened the oven, releasing a blast of hot air, and slid the two trays in. “So, we have twelve minutes. What would you like to do?”

“Well, you know why I’m single–,”

“Because you were a jerk,” she interrupted.

He swallowed back the irritation that her true statement evoked, his lips compressing into a thin line for a moment. “Yes. So why is a beautiful, charming woman like you not in a relationship?”

“Well, people freak me out. Adult people. Oh, and before I forget,” she touched his forearm, “Bibi wanted me to ask you if you want to run with us in the Turkey Day Fun Run.”

He grinned, both at the thought of him helping Nora with her little Brownies and that she had touched him. “I don’t know, do you think I’ll be able to keep up with you and your girls? You have been training quite steadily, from why I hear.”

Her smile peeked out. “I think you’ll probably manage. You also might end up carrying at least one of them.”

“Which one was Bibi?”

“The quiet one with long straight brown hair. She’s about as shy as I am, so it will probably take months for her to ever talk to you directly.”

“Well, I plan on being here for Thanksgiving since it’s not a British holiday, so I think I will join you for a run. That’s probably easier to justify than going camping with you.”

“Oh,” she covered her face with her hands. “I can’t believe she asked you that.”

“I can. It’s what children that age do.”

“Well, I’m sorry if they embarrassed you.”

He tugged her hand from her face and interlaced her fingers with his. “I can take a few impertinent questions from eight year olds. Years of dealing with the media have been a good training. Now, before you change the topic, adult people freak you out.

“Yes.”

“Is there anything I need to know about what to do or not to do? The not freaking out Nora equivalent of ‘don’t put the knives in the dishwasher’?”

“Don’t shove me into groups of people that I’m supposed to interact with, and don’t leave me alone with a bunch of people I don’t know.”

He nodded. “But I can take you out to dinner?”

“Yes.”

“Can you talk to the waiter or would I need to order for you?”

“I can talk to a waiter. If I’m to the point that I can’t talk to a waiter, I probably wouldn’t have gone to dinner with you at all.”

“Alright, how about if I wanted to take you to a sporting match or a film? Can you handle big groups like that?”

She looked down at their intertwined fingers. “As long as you’re not expecting me to sing the national anthem or anything like that. You just need to remember that if we’re in a box or something with your friends, I take much longer than the average person to be comfortable, so no wandering off.”

“I think I can manage that.”

“You’re weird. Most people don’t ask questions like that.”

“I’m sorry, did I embarrass you?”

“No, it’s nice that you are willing to ask what to do instead of acting like it’s not something I have going on in my life.”

“That’s something being with Halla taught me as well. Everyone has issues, and if you just run away from anyone with issues you just end up lonely.”

She pulled her hand from his. “You’re not over her yet.”

“Yes, I am.”

“No. You’re in the realizing the mistakes you made in your last relationship stage. Listening to you is like listening to someone who has just started therapy.” She clenched and unclenched her hands as she spoke. “Everything is still very formal and you haven’t internalized it yet. It’s like the difference between a starched shirt and an old comfortable pair of jeans.

“I know it would never work with her.”

She looked up at him, her eyes wide. Henry noticed a thin sheen of sweat on her forehead. “That’s different than being over her.”

“Well,” he rubbed his hands against his jeans again, “it’s only been three months.”

“Oh, I’m not saying you should be over her,” she rushed out the words, “but I’m just being honest with you. I’m,” she took a deep breath, “not interested in being a fling or a rebound.”

His brow furrowed and he turned so he was facing her directly. “Is that what you think I want from you?”

She took another deep breath. “I don’t know what,” another gasp for air, “you want from me.” She leaned forward and put her hands on her knees.

“Hey, hey!” He squatted down in front of her. “Tell me what to do here because you’re panicking and my instinct is to hold you and I don’t know if that would make it better or worse.”

“I’m sorry, I just, I can’t, I can’t,” her hands were shaking uncontrollably as she tried to get out the words. She sank to the floor and put her head on her knees. Henry watched her shoulders surging as she took deep breaths. He held out his hands to touch her, to gather her into his arms, but he was scared of making things worse. The timer on the oven beeped and he stood. “I’ll get that.” He just knew that letting the cookies burn would make things worse.

He grabbed a hot pad and pulled the sheets of cookies out of the oven and set them on top of the stove and then squatted down in front of her again. “Let’s go sit on the sofa. You’ll be more comfortable on the sofa than on the floor.”

He held out his hand to her and she stared at it for a few moments before she took it. Her hand was clammy as he closed his fingers around it and held out his other hand to her. She placed her hand in it and he helped her to her feet. She pulled her hands back and they walked to the sofa and she sat down on it.

“Do you want me to sit next to you or across from you or…,” he trailed off. “Tell me how I can help.”

She pointed to the armchair and he sat down.

He waited, not sure what to do, but not wanting to push her. So he waited. She had her face buried in her hands, her elbows on her knees, and he watched as her shoulders stopped heaving with every breath and her arms stopped trembling.

“I’m so sorry,” she murmured.

“You don’t need to apologize.”

She took a long slow breath. “I’ve been holding that off since yesterday by pure strength of will.”

“This is more than being shy, isn’t it?”

“I told you, adults freak me out.”

“You weren’t kidding.”

She made a sound somewhere between a laugh and a sob. “You can go; I’ll be fine.”

He shook his head. “I’m not leaving. I’m not going to be the guy who runs away.” He had figured out how to deal with Halla’s alcoholism; he could deal with whatever this was.

She snorted. “That’ll be new and different.”

“Nora, I don’t want a fling and I’m not looking for someone to help me get over Halla. I still think about her, but there’s nothing for me there. I’m not looking for someone to replace her because she wasn’t right for me. I don’t want to find someone who’s right for me; I want to find someone I’m right for.” He hesitated. “I don’t know if that makes sense out loud. It made sense in my head.” He moved so he was sitting on the coffee table facing her. “But I’m not even thinking that far down the road right now. I just want to get to know you better. Maybe take you out to dinner, a walk on the beach, something totally clichéd like that.”

She looked up at him from her hands and sighed and then flopped back against the sofa. “See, to normal people, that sounds lovely, but all I can think is ‘run away now before you like him and then you guys start dating and then you fall in love because it’s all going to end in a disaster when you trip and fall on the red carpet and humiliate yourself in front of everyone in the world.’” She rubbed her hands against her arms. “And you think I’m kidding, but I’m not. That’s honestly what’s going on in my head. Global humiliation.”

“And that’s why you freaked out?”

“Yes, and I know how absolutely stupid that sounds,” her voice cracked, “but that’s how my brain works.”

Henry sat back and nodded as he thought for a moment. “Nora, I don’t want to cause you any stress, so if you don’t want to go on a date with me because of impending global disaster, I’ll understand. But is it like that with everyone? Any guy you might like turns into thoughts of potential worldwide disaster?”

She hugged her knees to her chest, her purple polished toenails curling into the leather of the sofa. “Well, you present a unique opportunity for me embarrassing myself to be broadcast live around the world, but yes, pretty much.”

“Then maybe, if it’s going to be like that with everyone, maybe the very small potential of global humiliation is worth not being lonely anymore.”

“I’m not lonely. I’m alone.” A muscle in her cheek twitched. “There’s a difference.”

“Darling,” he leaned forward and began to gently stroke the skin of her calf, “you built an outdoor kitchen so you could have parties. You surround yourself with children, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was at least in part so you have a safe way to interact with their parents. You keep cookies in your kitchen so people will come visit you where you feel safe. You like people; you’re just scared of them.”

“I’m not scared of them.” She closed her eyes and sighed, pain lines forming around her eyes and at the corners of her mouth. “I’m scared of making a fool of myself in front of them.”

“Then I promise never to think you’re a fool, and we can have a few dates where we’re not around other people. I have a theatre in my house, we’ve both got swimming pools, there’s the beach and the lake, we could go for a run or a hike or out on the boat.”

“Yes, but what if I end up really liking you and then we’re just back to global disasters again?” Her eyes were wide and he realized that she genuinely was scared about this.

“We’ll worry about that later. Right now, we’re just going to think about today, alright? And I promise, no global disasters today.”

He watched her look at him. He couldn’t tell what was going on behind those big green eyes as she let them wander over his face and then up to the ceiling and then back to his face again. Finally, she said, “I think a cookie would help guarantee no global disasters. Will you get me a cookie?”

Henry grinned at her. “Definitely.” 

_[Salted Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies](http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2010/11/04/salted-double-chocolate-peanut-butter-cookies/) _


	5. Chapter 5

Henry looked around the gravel parking lot as he turned off the ignition. His sports car looked glaringly out of place surrounded by the huge pickup trucks.

“This is where you wanted to go?” He looked over at Nora, her face illuminated by the multi-colored neon adorning the front of the building. They had driven inland so far that he had been fairly certain she had gotten lost and didn’t want to admit it before she had told him to turn in at this disrespectable looking bar in a tiny two-stoplight town. It looked straight out of a set for a Hollywood western, complete with wagon wheel windows and swinging doors leading in from a railed porch. There weren’t any horses tied up at the hitching post, but there was evidence on the ground that this was not always the case.

Nora nodded, her eyes wide in the dim light. “Do you mind?”

Henry shook his head as he eyed the faded and peeling paint. “If I’d known we were coming here, I would have worn boots.”

“You own cowboy boots?”

He laughed at the skepticism in her voice. “I’m not sure how cowboy they are, but at least they’re boots.”

“We don’t have to go in if you don’t want to.” She caught at her bottom lip with her teeth.

 “No, this is what you wanted to do, so we are going to do this.”

He opened the car door to the sound of banjos and steel guitar. It wasn’t too loud in the car park, but it was going to be loud and crowded inside. After her panic attack yesterday, he was a little surprised she would want to go to a place like this, but this had been her request as they had eaten dinner in a quiet little restaurant earlier tonight.

He helped her out of the car and they walked into the club together. The place was packed, pool tables at one end and a crowded dance floor at the other. Peanut shells crunched underfoot and he was the only man in the joint not wearing a hat. The dancers circled in some sort of coordinated routine he couldn’t see from the distance. It was like entering an entirely different world. He got them two bottles of beer from the bar – he went for Budweiser since he wasn’t sure they would have anything imported in this kind of place – and handed one to her. “Fancy a game of pool?”

He had never seen her this excited before. She was bouncing on her toes. “I want to dance.”

“Uhhh, I don’t know these dances.”

“Oh come on, watch a few and you’ll figure it out.”

She grabbed his hand and tugged him towards the dance floor. He found a place on the wall and she stood in front of him, her head bobbing in time with the music. He watched the dancers, the lights reflecting off of belt buckles the size of his hand and discovered that she was right, it was a very simple two step they were doing so he transferred his attention to her. He wrapped his arm around her waist. She sucked in her stomach and she stopped moving to the music for a few moments, but then she relaxed and when he tightened his arm she leaned back against him.

“This is the most clichéd thing ever,” he said in her ear to make sure he was heard over the music, “but what’s a girl like you doing in a place like this?”

He could see her laugh but it was barely audible above the noise. “This was my teenage rebellion.”

“You snuck in here as a teenager?”

“No. I was always a good girl. But when my dad died, my mom moved back into the house, and I was mad at her for leaving my dad, and mad at her for leaving me when I was two, and mad at my dad for dying and leaving me with this woman I barely knew, and combine that with normal teenage rebelliousness, and I decided to be the absolute opposite of my mother. And since she was very urbane and sophisticated and wrote romance novels for a living, I started listening to fifties country and became an evangelical Christian.”

Henry’s laughter rumbled through his chest and into Nora. “You sound like you were a delightful child.”

“I was a teenager, what do you expect? I even burned some of her books in the fireplace once. Surely you were a rebellious punk in your younger years?”

A muscle flexed in his jaw and he took a swallow of his beer before he answered. “Teenage rebellion wasn’t really allowed in my family. Or my school.”

“Wasn’t allowed? What do you mean?”

“Military family and prep school. Neither one had any tolerance for ‘youthful hijinks.’”

She turned around so she was facing him and he tightened his arm around her. “That doesn’t sound like a lot of fun.”

He looked down at her, the soft curves of her face and upturned nose making her seem like the patron saint of hijinks. “It wasn’t, but it gave me the skills I needed to succeed as an adult.”

“Well, tonight, you get to participate in my rebellious teenage years, then.” She took another swallow of her beer and put the bottle on the railing that stretched along the wall. “Come on, big boy. Let’s dance.” He downed the rest of his beer and followed her out onto the dance floor.

It took most of the first song for him to really find his footing, but after that, the two of them danced the rest of the evening except for when Nora would get asked to dance by men in their sixties. After he got her back from the third almost identical looking man in a Stetson, dark blue jeans, and plaid shirts with pearlized snaps, he finally asked Nora if there was something going on.

She laughed. “I wondered when you were going to get curious. I came here on my 21stbirthday with a few girlfriends. We were tipsy and must have smelled like fresh meat being waved in front of a tiger because we got a lot of attention.  _A lot._  I panicked a bit and Hank, that was the first man who cut in, stepped in and got me calmed down and made sure I had happily married old men to dance with all evening. So that’s how I met him and Clint and Johnny. And now, whenever I convince someone to come down here with me, they always steal me for a dance to catch up. They were very interested in you, by the way.”

Henry’s brows rose. “Me?”

“I’ve never brought a boy with me. It’s always been girlfriends. They want to make sure you’re treating me right.”

A smile tugged at his mouth. “And am I?”

“You’re wearing $500 jeans but drinking three dollar beer without a complaint. I think you’re treating me just fine.” She stood up on her tip toes and kissed him on his chin.

Henry caught Hank looking at him from across the dance floor and nodded to him. The old man touched a finger to the brim of his hat and went back to his dance partner, an older woman that Henry presumed was his wife.

“So, what other parts of your teenage rebelliousness stuck around?”

She pushed her hair back and placed her hand on his shoulder again. “Well, I don’t burn books anymore. I still go to church fairly regularly, though I’m afraid my teenage self would have considered this a godless heathen liberal church because we don’t hate ‘the gays.’ I don’t even own boots, so it’s not like I’m gonna make you sit on a hay bale or anything. I just love the music and the unpretentiousness of it all. Living where I do, where we do, you know how it is.”

“Catered birthday parties for three year olds?”

She stuck out her tongue at him. “And houses that look like castles complete with moats. And I know the fifties weren’t perfect or idyllic or anything, but the music just seems simpler. Less overwhelming.”

He looked around at the crowd of denim and plaid. “And this little weathered club is simple and not overwhelming for you.

“Yeah. Though it’s really a honky-tonk more than a club.”

“Honky-tonk.” He repeated the foreign sounding word.

“Right. That’s what this kind of music is called and the name for the kind of disreputable bar that plays it.”

He arched an eyebrow at her. “So a sweet thing like you hanging out in a disreputable bar. You must be looking for trouble.”

Her laughter pealed out over the music, her head thrown back. “I’m sorry,” she said when she calmed down, her hand reflexively covering her mouth, “that was probably supposed to be sexy, wasn’t it?”

He could feel the heat rising up the back of his neck. “Maybe a little bit.”

“I’m not really a trouble kind of girl.”

He nodded, trying not to laugh at his own embarrassment. “I noticed.”

“But then, I don’t really get the feeling you’re looking for trouble anymore.”

“Anymore?”

She shrugged as he spun her around in a circle. “Well, if you didn’t get it out of you as a teen, you probably spent a few years in your twenties sowing some wild oats.”

“Or more than a few,” he admitted.

“And I have a feeling that maybe you aren’t looking for that anymore. That you’re looking to maybe plow a field and plant a couple of acres of domesticated oats instead.” She snorted. “And that’s just a horrible metaphor.”

“I don’t know, the whole plowing a field thing was amusing.”

“Amusing yes. Romantic, not so much.” She made a gagging face. “Not to mention the whole thing about me being a two acre field.”

“I don’t think you’re a two acre field.”

“Well, that’s good.”

“I think you’re the reason people crossed oceans. The hope of a better future.”

Her mouth opened and then closed, and the color in her cheeks, already pink with warmth, deepened a few more shades. He brushed his lips softly against hers and she kissed him gently before she rested her head on his shoulder. The music was something slow with lots of soaring strings, fiddles he supposed they would be called, and layered voices and it felt like a lullaby as he rocked her in his arms. He kept his eyes open just enough to make sure he wouldn’t bump into anyone else as they moved around the dance floor.

The song came to an end and the DJ announced, “Alright, this is last call. I’m going to bring the lights up enough to let you gentlemen take a look at your ladies and see if you need another shot or if you’re good to go.”

Henry was surprised to watch Nora laughing at this pronouncement. “What do you think, Henry? You need another shot?” She smiled up at him and batted her lashes.

“I’m good to go.”

The music started up, a fast-tempo number to bring the evening to a close and wake everyone up for the road. After a long moment of looking at each other, they started dancing again.

Henry stopped and cocked his head to the side. “Did those lyrics just say ‘I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die’?”

Nora giggled and nodded.

“So much for your argument that the music was so much simpler back then. You’re a bloodthirsty little thing, aren’t you?”

She shook her head and her hair brushed against his hand. “Only when it comes to music. I won’t even kill spiders. I catch them and take them outside.”

“You are a ball of contradictions.”

She shrugged, blissfully unconcerned about her internal inconsistencies. “It just means you’ll never get bored.”

When the music came to an end, she twisted her fingers through his. She leaned into him and smiled. “Thank you for taking me dancing. I know this wouldn’t have been your first choice for a way to spend an evening, but I had so much fun.”

“You having fun is my first choice.”

She laughed again. He couldn’t get enough of that sound. “You are sooooo cheesy.”

He grinned at her teasing prodding of his chest. “Alright. This wouldn’t be my first choice of the way to spend an evening. But I don’t think we’re quite ready for the way I want to spend an evening with you.”

The air between them crackled and sparked before Nora finally looked away.

“I shouldn’t have said that,” Henry touched her cheek and she looked back up at him. Well, almost up at him. She stopped lifting her eyes when she got to his chin. “I’m sorry. That was completely inappropriate.”

“I don’t know what you’re used to, how this works in your world, but I um,” she was cut off by the music starting to blare again.  A rueful grin crossed her face and then she started to sing along to ‘Happy Trails’ and pulled him toward the door.

“That didn’t sound so honky-tonk,” he said as they walked across the car park, the gravel crunching under their feet.

“That’s because it’s Van Halen.” She laughed at the surprise on his face. “It’s this place’s traditional ‘we turned the lights on, now go home’ song.”

“I really am sorry for saying that.” He helped her into the car.  He had pulled back onto the two-lane highway and was a few miles down the road before she said anything.

“So you need to not look at me while I say this.”

“Alright.”

“I, um, I don’t,” she leaned forward and put her hands over her face, “I can say this,” she muttered, “I don’t have a lot of,” she took a deep breath, “experience.” The word squeaked out.

“Ah.” Henry wasn’t sure how to respond to that. It wasn’t a problem he’d faced in over a decade.

“I mean, I have had sex,” the words rushed out, “but just not a lot. And not in a while.” He could barely hear her whisper the last few words. “Adults freaking you out kind of puts a damper on the ole sex life, you know? Of course you don’t know. But you can understand, right?”

“Of course.” He held his hand out in her direction, still not looking at her. “I promise you, I won’t push for anything.”

“So, um, you make my heart feel all funny and,” she giggled and took his hand, “other parts of me feel funny too.” He watched out of the side of his eye as she twisted her fingers in between his. “I just, I have to feel comfortable with someone before I can…” her words trailed off and he brought her hand to his mouth for a kiss.  

“There’s no rush.” There wasn’t, and he meant that. Of course, he would prefer faster rather than slower, but he wasn’t going to press for anything. He had known from the first time they had talked that she wasn’t going to be someone that jumped into bed.

Nora kissed the back of his hand. “I just wanted you to know. Just so you don’t think I’m a tease or something. And so you can dial any expectations you may have way down. Like, waaaaay down.”

Henry laughed and pulled her hand back over to kiss again. “There’s no expectations, darling.”

The car fell quiet, nothing but the steady purr of the engine and the low whirr of the wheels on the pavement. He looked over at her and found her asleep. She looked sweet with her cheeks flushed and her mouth open a bit and he had a sudden memory of waking up in the dark on a family vacation and seeing his mom and dad in the front seat of the big van and knowing that he was safe before he fell asleep again. He looked at the tiny backseat of his car in the rear view mirror and shook his head. He’d have to get a bigger car for a family vacation. Their kids would never fit back there.


	6. Chapter 6

Henry was on his patio enjoying the last of the day’s sunshine as he waited for Nora. The drive home last night kept playing through his mind, the thoughts of their children sleeping in the back seat of some big sports utility vehicle on the way home from a holiday. It was crazy. He knew it was crazy. They’d spent three evenings together and he was already picturing their kids. He wasn’t even in love yet but something about her made him think about forever. He had never been like this with Halla. It had always been just him and her, but with Nora there was a house and kids and family trips to the ocean and too many other things to be considering this early in their fledgling relationship.

The sound of a boat engine caught his attention and he looked down at the lake just in time to hear Nora cut the engine and start to drift into the dock. She brought the boat in perfectly and then jumped over to the dock and started to tie up the boat. He walked down the stone and dirt steps to meet her.

Nora was just stepping off the dock when he reached her. She lifted her face for a kiss which he happily gave her, feeling like a bit of progress had been made that she had initiated the intimacy. “Hello, darling.”

“See,” she pointed to her boat which was rocking lazily at the dock, “I really was serious about needing to tie up my boat. It wasn’t just a ploy to meet the cute neighbor.”

“Do you know who hit your dock?”

“Yes. The insurance is dealing with all of it.”

“I should get his name so I can send him flowers.”

She slid her hand into his as she shook her head. “You’re such a flirt.” She didn’t sound like she minded though.

They started walking up the steps to his house. “You look like you got some sun today.”

She ran her fingers over her reddened cheeks and nose. “I never remember to put enough sunscreen on when I’m out kayaking. It’s not enough to put it on when I start; I have to put on more when I’m out on the water too.”

“You went kayaking today?”

She nodded. “There’s a group of us who get together and either kayak or do a bike trip or both once a month.”

“I want to come.”

She paused before she mounted the next step. “Have you ever kayaked before?”

“No.”

She giggled. “Then you’re not ready for us. There’s no way I’m taking a novice kayaking the Channel Islands.”

The muscle in Henry’s jaw twitched as he tried not to get angry that she didn’t think he was good enough for her and her friends. “It’s just a boat with a paddle. How hard could it be?”

Nora’s laughter was like bells ringing as they stepped onto the patio, though it lost a little bit of its charm when it was directed at him. “You’re cute when you’re dumb.” She patted his cheek. “But if you want, I’ll take you out on the lake sometime and teach you how to roll without drowning yourself.” There was still laughter in her green eyes, making them look like the lake when the sun was shining on it. “I could even borrow a double if you want. All of mine are singles.”

“You have more than one kayak?”

Confusion at his question flickered across her face, a wrinkle of her forehead, a narrowing of the eyes. “Well, yeah. You don’t do rivers in the same ones you do sea. My goal next summer is to do the Grand Canyon.”

“Is the Grand Canyon difficult?”

“It will be my first class V rapids.” The difficulty seemed to excite her as her smile broadened even further. “I figure it will take two weeks, maybe three to do the whole river.”

“So class five is hard then?” He opened the French doors and showed her into his house. She’d never been here before and he had spent the last two hours making sure everything looked absolutely perfect. He’d even changed the sheets on his bed just on the off-chance that something unexpected happened.

“Class six is the hardest so yeah, it’s gonna be a big challenge. How much of one depends on how much water’s flowing. Crystal Rapids can go up to a class VI when it’s really running.”

“The different rapids are named?”

“Of course. Some of them are much harder than others so each one is named and then you can brag about which ones you’ve done. It’s like notches in your bedpost. If you want you can get your computer and I’ll show you what I’ll be doing.”

Henry pulled out his laptop and they sat on the sofa as Nora searched on YouTube for kayaking the Grand Canyon and clicked on [the first video](http://youtu.be/G2Buf555H3U?t=1m45s). Henry watched with more and more concern as the video showed kayakers taking on increasingly difficult water. “I don’t think you should do this,” he said as another kayaker got flipped upside down.

She turned to him, wrinkles appearing between her furrowed brows. “Why not?”

“You could get hurt.”

She laughed and the muscle in his jaw twitched again. “Well yeah, but that’s what makes it fun.” Her eyes were sparkling again and he shook his head at her delight in the face of danger.

“Seriously though,” he took her hand, “what happens if you get hurt out there?”

“Well, that’s why you go in a group. So someone can get you out if you get stuck or hurt yourself.”

“So you’re not going by yourself?”

She snorted and went back to watching the video. “No. I’m not stupid. I’m going with people who’ve done it before and I’ll be wearing a helmet and a flotation device and I have my knife. I’ll be fine.”

“And I suppose you’re going to tell me I can’t come.”

She looked at him for a second and then went back to watching the video. Her body shifted with the kayaker’s, mimicking his movements. “Well, you could come do support. There are parts of the river you could handle in a kayak if you practiced between now and then, but you’d probably be riding in the rafts most of the time. Not to mention that I’m fairly certain you’re going to be filming a rather large movie at the time which might make the commute difficult.”

He watched for a few seconds. “Do you do this often?”

“Do what?”

“Just take off into the wild.”

She nodded, though her smile had lost some of its radiance. “As much as I can. Kayakers and chefs are my people.”

“So I’m not your people.”

“They’re people that I know I have something in common with. I’ve been kayaking with the same group of people since I was a teenager. You can be my people, just in other ways.” She scraped her teeth across her bottom lip and then put her hand on his. She looked at him again, this time focusing on his chin. “Or you could take me up on my offer and let me teach you to kayak.”

He smiled and her eyes rose to meet his. “I guess I could learn that.”

“Or, you know,” she shook her head, “never mind.”

“What?”

She shrugged. “I was going to say that we could go hike The Narrows sometime. I’ve never done that one, but it’s getting late in the season to do that.”

“What’s The Narrows?”

“It’s in Utah. It’s a river canyon, and the canyon is so narrow you end up hiking in the actual river about sixty percent of the time.”

He grinned. Hiking he knew he could do, and maybe once she had seen him do that she’d be a little more likely to trust his skills in a kayak. “That sounds like fun. We should go do it.”

“Well, it’s going to be cold. Especially in the water. We’d need wet suits for insulation probably.”

He shrugged. He lived an hour from the beach. Those wouldn’t be difficult to find at all. “Then let’s get wet suits and do it.”

Her eyes widened. “Seriously?”

“I’m on holiday basically, and you can shove things around in your schedule, right?”

“Well,” she started twisting her fingers together, “yeah.”

“Then what’s holding you back?”

“Well, that’s a lot of time to spend with someone you don’t know very much.”

He lifted her face to his again, breaking her death stare at her hands, and making her look him in the eyes. “You think I’m going to get tired of being with you?” A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

“Well, we’d be sharing a tent. Though I guess we can bring two.”

“We’ll bring one tent and I’ll go outside when you need to change clothes and I promise to keep my hands to myself.”

Her forehead wrinkled again. “You really want to do this? It’s not an easy hike.”

“I think it would be fun. I’ve never done anything like this and it would give us some time to be together. By the end of something like this you would really know a person.”

“Alrighty then. We can go get supplies tomorrow then and plan our route.”

“It’s a date.”

Henry gave her a tour of his house and then they settled into the theater to watch a movie. A little disappointed that she didn’t share his love of Smarties, he ate hers as well as they watched  _Jack Ryan._ She had confessed a weakness for action movies and had missed this one in the theater. About half way through the movie he noticed that she was watching him instead of the screen. She would periodically go back to the movie but within a minute would be looking at him again. He finally turned his head but she quickly looked away. With anyone else he would have thought she was playing a game, but not with his shy Nora. He touched her cheek and she looked back to him. “What were you thinking?”

She blinked several times and even in the dim blue flickering light of the film, he could see the familiar blush starting to rise in her cheeks. “I wasn’t thinking anything.”

His mouth widened in a smile and he leaned towards her. He took a lock of her hair and twisted it slowly around his finger before he tucked it behind her ear. His fingers trailed slowly down her neck. “What were you thinking, Nora?”

Her eyes had slowly closed under his touch but she opened them again at his question. Her eyelashes were long and dark over her eyes as she looked at him. “That I wanted to kiss you.” She was practically whispering, but it was still loud enough to hear her over the sound of his heart starting to beat faster in anticipation.

He stroked his thumb against her bottom lip, applying just enough pressure to tug it down slightly. Her breath was warm against his skin. “Why didn’t you?”

She shivered and pulled back from his touch before she licked her lips. “I didn’t want to make you miss the movie.”

Without taking his eyes from hers, he reached for the remote and turned off the movie. “There.”

Her eyes dropped to his mouth and he licked his lips. Her pupils flared in response and her breathing was shaky when she inhaled again. “Is it alright if I kiss you now?”

“Absolutely.”

Nora turned in her seat so she was facing him and leaned forward. He didn’t move, wanting her to take this step by herself. She moved closer, her lips parting as she looked at his mouth, and then the tip of her tongue darted out to wet her lips and she swallowed. She blinked several times as she stared at his mouth and then she leaned in and kissed him. Her eyes closed as her lips moved against his mouth and Henry cupped her face with both hands, brushing his lips against hers. Her hands found their way to his shirt, her fingers digging into the fabric to keep them from digging into her own palms.

The slight tremble in her hands was noticeable against his chest. He put one of his hands over hers as they kissed, and her fingers relaxed and steadied as he held them. After she calmed, he moved his hand to her back, pulling her closer. Her arms slowly worked their way around his neck and as she wound his hair around her fingers, he tilted his head and touched his tongue to hers.

She sighed softly and then kissed him again, the tip of her tongue grazing across the edge of his front teeth. She tightened her arms around his neck, pulling herself closer to him. Her breasts rubbed against his chest and he gripped her waist and pulled her onto his lap. He leaned back in the reclining chair and rolled over so they were stretched out next to each other even though they weren’t lying fully down. Nora’s eyes were wide open as she adjusted to the sudden shift in their position. Henry left his hand on her waist and propped his head up with his hand. They watched each other for a long moment and Henry waited, letting Nora get comfortable, both with the position and with him again. He stroked his hand slowly from her side to the small of her back in lazy circles as her eyes flickered over his face. Her fingers tightened in his shirt again and she pulled him to her as she leaned forward.

Her kisses were less hesitant this time, and he felt her teeth as well as her tongue before he started kissing across her jaw. She tilted her head as he slowly kissed her warm skin and then flicked his tongue against the soft skin at the base of her ear. He could taste the faintest residue of sea salt on her skin and smell it in her hair. “Henry,” she sighed and he fastened his lips to her skin, sucking at it for a moment. He didn’t want to leave a mark there, not with the likelihood of her running into one of her curious Brownies being as high as it was, but he wanted to taste her, to know her, to feel her skin under his fingers and lips. If Halla had been lightning, all flash and sparkle, Nora was the ocean, mysterious and eternal, and he wanted to spend the rest of his life discovering the secrets she had buried inside her.

He was surprised when she nudged his face upwards and kissed his throat. Her lips were soft and warm, and so was her tongue as it tasted his skin. His head fell back as her mouth worked down his neck, kissing and licking and occasionally biting. The first few buttons on his shirt were already undone, but she popped open one more as her lips moved across his chest. Her fingers tugged at the hair there and he opened his eyes to find her peering down his shirt.

“Are you looking down my shirt?”

She giggled and pressed her face against his shoulder. “You always wear shirts where I can see a little bit of chest hair and I’ve been dying to find out how much you actually have.”

“I can take the shirt off if you want to see.” There was laughter in his voice but the offer was serious.

He watched as she gnawed on her upper lip, obviously torn between competing desires. “You better not,” she finally said. “Save something for the wedding night.” She giggled again and then whispered, “As built as you are, I think your boobs are actually nicer than mine.”

He grabbed her around the waist and pulled her to him for another kiss. “I very much doubt that. Now,” he pushed the chair into a more upright position, “let’s finish this film before you give in to the urge to tear my clothes off.”

They watched the rest of the movie with Nora cuddled into Henry’s side, her legs stretched over his lap. A few more kisses were exchanged, but mostly she rested her head on his shoulder and he would brush his lips periodically over her hair. He walked her home in the starlight, up to the bridge over her stream which seemed to have become their place to say goodnight. He kissed her one more time as he held her body close to his. Her lips parted for him with no coaxing and her fingers wrapped around the collar of his shirt and brushed against his chest hair. He could have kissed her forever but the more he held her, the more her warmth filled his arms and pressed against him, the more he wanted to do more than just kiss her. He finally broke the kiss and pressed his lips to her forehead.

As he walked back to his house, he shook his head though he was smiling. Tonight had done nothing to curb his thoughts of a future with Nora. Now he was just wondering if kayaks came in kids’ sizes.


	7. Chapter 7

Nora looked at Henry with the weathered squint of a cowboy who’d won and lost his horse four times in a single night of poker. “Do you have any…fours?”

He clutched his chest and groaned as if he had been shot before he yanked two cards from his hand and tossed them to her. She laughed triumphantly as she slapped another completed set down on the floor of their tent next to her other sets. “How about sevens?”

“Go fish.”

She pouted at him before she drew a card from the dwindling stack. “Your turn.”

“Do you have any queens?”

She groaned. “I just picked that one up.” She held out the card and he pulled her hand to his mouth for a kiss before he plucked the card from her fingers. He tossed the four queens down next to his other set and looked at the cards in his hand. “Do you have any…sixes?”

“Nope. Fishy fishy time for you.”

He grinned as he picked up a card. The tiny battery operated lantern illuminated the small tent, casting Nora’s soft features into stark relief as she considered the cards she still held in her hand. The sunshine had been much kinder to her face as they had hiked down the narrow canyon together. Nora had kept giggling about how she couldn’t believe they were doing this on the spur of the moment, but Sunday’s trip to an outdoor supply store and then dinner planning over roast lamb had readied them for an early morning commuter flight to St. George. They had caught a shuttle to the trailhead and had been in the canyon by noon.

It had taken them a while to get used to hiking on the algae covered rocks. Nora had acquired the trick of it faster than he had, though that could have been because she didn’t hike as fast as he did. He had always hiked for speed, wanting to cover the most terrain in the shortest time possible. Nora stopped to admire things. Leaves floating in the water, a pretty rock, the soaring flight of an eagle over head; everything caught her attention. She knew about everything too; the names of the trees and the flowers, the birds singing, the animal that had made the footprints at the river’s edge. At first her pace had frustrated him, but when he had turned back to see what had stopped her this time to find her lifting her face to the sunlight that had managed to penetrate to the bottom of the canyon, the beauty of her, up to her knees in an autumn creek with her hair shining in the sun and a beatific smile on her face, he had stopped trying to set the pace and hiked at her side for the rest of the day.

When they had finally made camp on a tiny little bench in a grove of maples, they spent the last hour of daylight exploring the river and the little fish and dragonflies that hovered over the surface. The number of birds singing gradually diminished and was replaced by bats and owls as the stars came out. The cold finally chased them into their tent where they ate dinner. He should have expected something other than cold soup with Nora, but he had been surprised that she’d packed an entire charcuterie tray’s worth of cold cuts, sliced cheeses and marinated vegetables in vacuum packs in her bag. He’d wondered why it had been so heavy when he’s grabbed it out of the shuttle.

It had been when she’d gotten him into a food coma that she’d challenged him to Go Fish. He’d suggested poker which she had turned down because they didn’t have anything to use as markers. He’d suggested kisses, payable at the end of each hand, to which she had laughed and then said no.

“Do you have any jacks?”

He shook his head. “Go fish, my lady.”

She pouted at him and he reached across the little playing space to flip his finger against her bottom lip. “My dad always told us if we pouted a bird would think our lip was a giant juicy worm and come down and eat it.”

She looked at him in horror. “What a horrible thing to tell a child.”

He shrugged as he took the top card off of the stack and handed it to her. “We didn’t pout.”

The gentle curve of her jaw set into a hard line. “I will smack the first person to tell one of my children that a bird will attack their face. You don’t tell kids things like that.”

 “You’re very protective of your Brownies.”

The color climbed in her cheeks, visible even in the florescent lighting. “Well, yeah, them too. If they start pouting you don’t get to tell them about attack birds. But I was thinking about someday in the future, when I have my own kids. I am going to be such a momma bear. Insult my cooking and we’re fine, but don’t you dare raise a finger against my babies.”

Henry smiled at her ferocity as he looked down at his hand. “Do you have any aces?”

She tossed him the card she had just acquired. “You keep doing that.”

He placed the completed set down with the others. “Do you have any deuces?”

“Ooooh, deuces. You’re being all technical now.” She giggled as she handed him a single card.

He chuckled. “I must admit, Go Fish is not my usual card game.”

“I’m fairly certain you would destroy me at poker considering you can act and I can’t bluff to save my life. Go Fish is the game my dad would play with me when we went camping.”

“He didn’t tell you ghost stories?”

“No!” Her eyes were as wide as an owl’s. “ And you don’t either or I’ll be climbing in your sleeping bag at two in the morning.”

A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “That doesn’t really sound like a deterrent.”

“How about if you do, I’ll steal your sleeping bag and you can just be cold?”

“Ooooh, you play mean.”

“Yes I do.”

The last few cards quickly exchanged hands and Henry won by a single set. Nora gathered the cards and put them back in the box. Once she put them away, she looked at him. “I guess you can have a kiss for winning.”

He leaned across the gap between their bags. “Just one?”

“You only won by a single set.”

He grinned and wrapped his hand around the back of her neck. “I better make it count then.”

She leaned forward and placed her hands gently on his shoulders. “Yes. You better.”

He ran his other hand down her spine, feeling her back arch under his hand as he watched her mouth. Her lips parted and her breathing stopped as his fingers drifted onto the skin bared between the bottom of her tee and the top of the cargo shorts she had put on when they had made camp. His hand settled on her lower back as his lips touched hers and she made the softest sound possible against his mouth as her fingers tightened in his shirt.

Henry had not known what to expect tonight. There were a couple of condoms in one of the pockets of his backpack, just in case, but he didn’t think things would get that far. Just kissing her was amazing, though. He tilted his head and her arms went around his neck as her lips softened and parted. He pulled her closer and she crawled towards him, settling herself on his lap. He groaned softly at the warm weight of her pressed against him. As they kissed, one of his hands found its way into her hair, cupping the back of her head. His other arm tightened around her back. He needed to hold her, to reassure himself that she really was there.

The thing that had caught him the most off guard about Halla leaving hadn’t been that she wanted to pursue her career; it had been that he had thought she was happy with him. She had gone from sleeping in his arms to ‘I need to go away for a year’ in twelve hours and he hadn’t known how to cope with that. With Nora, he was scared of how fast he was falling for her, and as his hands tightened on her, he prayed that she was falling for him as well.

His hand slipped under her shirt and slowly slid up her back, his fingers spread wide so he could touch as much of her as possible. He nudged up her chin with his mouth and kissed down her throat. He nipped at the soft skin and her nails scraped across his scalp as his tongue caressed the spot of his depredation. Her head fell even further back as he continued his way down her neck.

Nora knew she should stop him before things went much further. She wasn’t immune to his charms by any mean, and the feel of his hand on her back would have weakened a stronger woman than she. She thanked god that she hadn’t actually straddled his lap when she had crawled into it because she had the sinking feeling that if she had felt him getting hard that she would have ended up in his sleeping bag, ghost stories or no.

She tightened her hands in his hair and brought his face back up for another kiss. His lips were amazing, soft and warm and they knew exactly how to stop the breath in her lungs as they touched her. His lips closed around her bottom lip and tugged before their tongues grazed against each other. She whimpered again, a little pleading noise that almost embarrassed her, and he kissed her harder. She nipped at his tongue and felt him smile. He returned the soft bite and she moaned softly and then froze as his thumb brushed against the side of her breast.

“Nora?”

His hand had stilled. Everything had stilled. She wasn’t even breathing. The only things active were the voices in her head. One yelled at her, ‘C’mon, it’s just a boob. Let him touch it!’ Another screamed, ‘You let him touch your breast and you’re going to end up screwing him.’ A third just bellowed, ‘Let’s get some!’

“Nora?” Henry’s voice cut through the din in her head. “Do you want to stop?”

“I don’t know,” she whispered.

“Then we should stop.” He pulled his hand from under her shirt and smoothed it back down. She rested her head on his shoulder as struggled to get her breathing back under control. He definitely was keeping his word when he said he wouldn’t push. He kissed her on her forehead and wrapped her hair around his fingers, not quite ready to let her go yet.

***

Nora always woke at the crack of dawn. Regardless of where she was or how tired she might be, she always was up as the first rays of the sun crept over the horizon. It didn’t even matter that the sunlight wouldn’t reach their tent, deep in the narrow canyon, for several more hours. Her body knew that day had started. She unzipped her sleeping bag and slipped out of the tent, careful not to wake Henry. She paused to study his face as he slept. She wanted to brush his mess of curls back from his forehead but knew that he would wake up so she didn’t. She picked her way across the chilly ground the few steps down to the edge of the river to scrub her face with the cold water to finish waking up. The light was grey as she stepped out from under the trees and as she scooped up a handful of water to wash her face, the normally clear water was cloudy in her hand. Thinking that she had disturbed the river bottom, she let the water fall and scooped up another handful only to see it similarly clouded with suspended particles of dirt. A single raindrop hit her on the hand and she lifted her face to the sky and saw dark clouds rolling in from upstream. The water fell unheeded from her hand as she turned and ran back to the tent, shouting Henry’s name.

She yanked up the zipper and barely even noticed that Henry had climbed out of his sleeping bag wearing just his underwear and too frantic to worry about her being in just a camisole and panties. “Where’s the emergency radio?”

He yawned and stretched as much as the small tent allowed. “It’s in my bag somewhere. Why?”

“I swear I replaced the batteries,” she muttered as she dove for his bag. She started yanking things out, looking for the familiar small rectangle.

“It’s in the side pocket. I made sure it’s off so it wouldn’t drain the batteries.”

Her hands froze as she turned to look at him. “You turned it off?”

“Yes. I didn’t want the batteries dead if we needed to call for help.”

“It’s a radio, not a walkie talkie! It’s the park’s emergency warning system.”

She grabbed the radio and flipped it back on and winced as the flash flood warning came blaring out. “You have sixty seconds to get dressed and grab anything you want to save and we’re leaving.”

She dropped the radio on her sleeping bag and grabbed her wetsuit and started yanking it back on.

Henry touched her hand. “Nora, calm down. I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about.”

She shook off his touch as she pulled a pair of cargo shorts on over the wetsuit. “The river’s cloudy. There’s rain hitting the ground. We have to move now.” She struggled with her neoprene footies before she gave up and yanked on a dry pair of socks.

“Nora, you’re over reacting! We’ll be fine.”

“You have thirty seconds or I swear to god I’m leaving you behind.” She shoved her feet into her boots and went out of the tent to finish pulling up her wetsuit. She got it all the way on, and reached behind her for the pull strap only to touch Henry’s hand as he pulled up her zipper. She turned around to see him with his wetsuit up to his waist, cargo shorts and his boots undone. She went back into the tent, grabbed his drybag and hers, stuffed them in her pockets and then dumped out the contents of her backpack. A handful of protein bars, her small survival kit, a bottle of water. She shoved them into the pockets of her shorts and climbed out of the tent again. She zipped up Henry’s suit as he finished tying his boots. She handed him the rest of the supplies and he shoved them in the pockets of his shorts.

“Ready?”

He nodded and though his truculent expression made it obvious he thought she was overreacting, he followed her, leaving the rest of their gear behind. The river was several inches higher already as they stepped into the flow and she was glad she had insisted they both purchase double walking sticks. The rocks had been treacherous enough yesterday with a relatively calm flow, but with the current picking up speed every second, a twisted ankle could literally kill them. Rain pelted their backs as she set as quick a pace as possible, her eyes constantly scanning both sides of the canyon for any possible route to higher ground. She hadn’t brought any climbing gear with her at all so she had to find secure footing. The canyon walls were slick with rain and the erosion of thousands of years of flooding had widened the bottom of the canyon more than the top.

The canyon widened out about a quarter mile downstream from their campsite and Nora scanned the sandbeds on both side, looking for scree that would indicate a way up. Her eyes caught on a pile of rocks right as she heard a low dull roar from up the canyon behind them. The water had been steadily climbing their legs as they had hiked, and she pointed to the scree as she yelled, “Run!”

They both struggled against the pull of the water as they scrambled for safety. The sand bar visibly shrank as they made for it, the water advancing quicker than they did. Finally, their lungs burning, they struggled the final few steps onto the relatively dryer sand and raced for the scree. Dropping their sticks, they scrambled up the slippery rock on their hands and knees, searching for any solid surface to give them protection against the coming onslaught. The rocks cascaded downward as they climbed, dragging them backwards, but they finally reached the solid canyon wall. The sloping vee of the fold in the canyon wall funneled water down into the rocks, but it provided a steadier surface than that under their feet. They braced their feet against both walls as they climbed higher, and just when Nora felt that she couldn’t get any higher, her fingers closed on a ledge. “Give me a boost,” she called down to Henry over the sound of the rain and the roar of the onrushing flood.

His hand grabbed her foot and shoved her upward. Grateful for all of his strength training, he sent her up the additional few feet she needed to scramble up onto the ledge. She immediately turned around and held out her hand to him. He had already gotten his hands up onto the edge of the ledge and she helped pull him up. The ledge didn’t offer much. The lighter color stone must have been softer than the surrounding red rock and had eroded away, leaving them a hollow about four feet high and roughly three feet deep.

“Dear God, please let this be high enough.”

They sat, side-by-side with their backs pressed up to the cliff and watched the rain pour down. They’d been in their little perch less than a minute when a wall of water came surging out of the canyon mouth. Ten feet high, the brown foamy water carried entire trees with it as it started to fill the bowl shaped depression below them. Nora watched the downstream canyon entrance, praying that it would drain faster than it was. A tree was caught across the opening, and as she watched another tree caught on it, damming the exit. She crawled to the end of their little ledge and looked around the corner to see if there was a way to continue upward if they needed it. There was a very narrow crack in the canyon wall that led back into relative darkness. She could see rainwater running down the face of the cliff from inside the crevice so there had to be some access to the surface, but she couldn’t tell from here if it was wide enough for her to get through, much less Henry. At least there was the possibility of a plan B if they needed it.

She scooted backwards until she felt Henry and then sat back against the chilly stone. She shivered in the cold morning air as the adrenaline started to wear off and he put his arm around her shoulders and tugged her closer. She fished two protein bars out of her pocket and handed him one. “Breakfast?”

He opened a bottle of water and handed it to her. “Not quite tea and toast, but it will have to do.”

They watched the pouring rain as they ate their scanty rations. The water level was still rising as the bowl in the canyon caught the rainfall as well as the runoff from above and the water coming from upstream.

Henry finally broke the silence. “So what’s the plan here?”

“Well,” Nora screwed the cap back on the water bottle, “if the water rises a few more inches, then I go investigate that crevice and see if he we can get higher. Other than that, we wait for it to stop raining and then hold our phones out over the edge and pray that one of us has a signal.”

“So we sit here and wait?”

“Yep.” She couldn’t look at him right now. She was furious with him for endangering them the way he had.

“You want to do anything to pass the time?”

If he tried to kiss her, she would punch him. “We could play Go Fish again.”

“You saved the cards?”

“They were my dad’s. I keep them in the wet bag with all my other valuables.”

Another tree lodged across the downstream exit of the canyon and Nora shook her head. “That’s it. I’m going to investigate.”

“Should I come with you?”

“No. I’m not sure how wide it is and I don’t want us both getting stuck. If I’m not back in fifteen minutes, come yank on my ankles.”

“Nora,” he sighed and ran a hand through his damp hair, “I want to say be safe, but I’m not sure how much that applies right now.”

“I’ll be careful.”

She crawled back on the ledge a few minutes later. “Well, good news and bad news.” She pulled up her knees and wrapped her arms around them.

“What’s the bad news?”

“There’s no way we can make it up to the top through there, it’s too narrow.”

“And the good news?”

She snorted. “I have a better chance of survival than you do.”

He laughed. Maybe it was escaping death by a few seconds that had given them both a black sense of humor. “Is that supposed to be reassuring me?”

“Well, we both can make it up part way, but it narrows and then widens out. I can make it through the narrow, just barely, but there’s no way you will.”

“Well, at least we can both get some additional height if it’s needed.”

She nodded. “What I need is a really big rock.”

“Why?”

“So I can break your collarbone.”

Henry’s eyes narrowed. Had he heard her correctly? “Why would you want to do that?”

“Because then you could probably make it through. If we can get your head and shoulders through, the rest of you would fit.”

Maybe it had given her more than a black sense of humor. “Do you really think you could break my collarbone?”

“I’ve butchered a side of beef by myself. This wouldn’t be much different.”

Henry shook his head. “Won’t kill a spider but no problem with breaking my shoulder. You will never make sense to me.”

“It makes perfect sense. I’m trying to save a life both ways.”

“Right.” He stared out at the unceasing rain for several minutes. “Nora, promise me, if it comes down to it, you’ll save yourself.”

“Of course.”

Henry was taken aback at her easy agreement. “That was simple.”

Her head rolled to the side as she looked at him. “I’ve known you six days. What did you expect, a declaration of undying love?”

“Well, no, but–,”

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to kill you and use your body as a raft, but I’m also not going to die just so your corpse won’t be lonely.”

They went back to watching the rain and watched a giant boulder get smashed into one of the trees blocking the canyon and with a slow creaking splinter, the tree gave way under the weight of the water and shattered. Water surged through the widened opening with a muffled roar and Nora let her head fall back against the rock as she exhaled, her chest shaking. “That probably just saved our lives.”

Henry leaned over the ledge to measure the handspan between the top of the water and their little ledge. They sat next to each other, thigh to thigh and shoulder to shoulder as they stare at the unending rain. Ten minutes passed and Henry leaned out to check the water level. “It’s not rising anymore. I’m not sure if it’s actually receding yet, but it’s not rising.”

Nora choked back the sob that was lodged in her throat. “Well, now we wait. Pray for no more damming and the rain to let up.” She closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the wall again. She was exhausted and just wanted to sleep.

Nora woke to Henry shaking her shoulder. “Nora, you need to wake up.”

“I don’t want to.”

“Darling, I think you’re getting hypothermia.”

Nora forced her eyes open and looked at Henry. His face was so close and his eyes were so blue, except for that spot of brown. It was like someone had tossed a big rock into a tropical ocean. Tropical oceans were warm though. Nice and warm. The sunlight washed over her and left her glowing. “I don’t have hypothermia. I’m all cozy warm.”

“Nora, your lips are turning blue. Stay awake.” He pulled her into his lap and held her tightly, trying to get some warmth back into her. “When did you rip your wetsuit?” He traced the long tear down the back of her suit.

“Oh, I snagged it when I was pushing through that crevice.” She poked him in the nose. “I told you that you wouldn’t fit.”

“Nora, you’ve been putting your bare back up against the rock. No wonder you’re freezing.” He rubbed his hands over her arms. “I wish we had a blanket.”

“It’s in my pocket.”

She wasn’t making any sense. She was worse off than he had thought. “You have a blanket in your pocket.”

“’S one of those spacey thermal reflecto ones.” She fumbled for the emergency kit and tried to pull it out of the biggest pocket, but for some reason her fingers weren’t working really well. “’S in there.” Henry grabbed the kit and popped open the seal. He sorted through the matches, mirror, antibiotic ointment, plasters and on the bottom he found a folded emergency blanket.

“Alright darling. We’re going to strip out of our wetsuits and put them on the ground and then we’re going to cuddle under this blanket, alright?”

She shook her head. “You just want to see me in my underwear.” She poked him in the nose again.

“Nora, please. Work with me here, alright?”

He pulled down the zipper on her wetsuit and helped her pull it down her arms. The motion and sudden slap of cold air against her skin seemed to wake her enough where she managed to get herself undressed the rest of the way while he stripped down to his shorts. He covered the ground as best as he could with the wetsuits and then laid down on his side. She stretched out next to him and they worked to tuck the blanket in around them. She tucked the penultimate corner between his shoulder and the ground and then he grabbed the last one and pulled the rest of the blanket over them. Nora burrowed into his chest, safe between him and the canyon wall.

A few minutes later her teeth started chattering. “I’m so cold.”

“That’s a good sign. It means your body can actually tell it’s cold now.”

She tried to wriggle closer to him and he stroked her back. “I think I watched a Mythbusters ‘bout this.”

She didn’t say anything else and a few minutes later she wrapped her arm around his waist. “This isn’t how I expected to discover how much chest hair you have.”

Henry laughed. “What do you think? Thumbs up, thumbs down?”

“Definitely a thumbs up. Enough to run my fingers through if we ever get to that point. Not enough where it looks like you’ve grown your own sweater.”

He chuckled and his chest rumbled, tickling against Nora’s skin. “Feel free to play with it. You deserve something to keep yourself entertained.

“I’m not running my fingers through your chest hair while I’m still mad at you.”

She’d tucked her head under his chin so he couldn’t even look down at her. “Why are you mad at me?”

“You almost got us killed!”

“Well, yes, but I did catch the hypothermia thing.”

“Which wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t almost gotten us killed,” she shot back.

“True. I am sorry about that.”

She was quiet again for a few minutes. “Do you think it’s safe for me to go to sleep now? You’re better than an electric blanket.”

“Yes. Go to sleep. I’ll wake you when the rain stops.”

“Don’t roll over. You’ll either smoosh me or fall off and neither of those is a good option.”

Her soft breathing slowed and steadied as she fell asleep against him. Her body went limp and he stroked her hair, combing it with his fingers so it would continue to dry.  She was warm in his arms, a welcome contrast from how cold she had been when he had held her earlier. He’d come remarkably close to getting them both killed and then losing her again to the cold. He never would have forgiven himself if she had died saving his life. His arms tightened around her and he hooked his leg over hers. Her feet were still cold and he caught them between his own. He never wanted her to be cold again.

He woke from a light doze a few hours later to the sound of flowing water. The rain had stopped and as he looked over his shoulder he could see sunlight hitting the water.

“Nora, it’s stopped raining.” She murmured something unintelligible and wiggled closer to him. Under any other circumstance he would have let her sleep and enjoyed the feel of her body pressed against his but he needed her safe. He needed to know he hadn’t done any lasting damage.

“Nora, darling,” he stroked his hand down her back over the thin yellow camisole, “it’s stopped raining.” She muttered something and slowly opened her eyes. She blinked a few times as she tried to focus and poked him in the chest. “Oh, yeah. I remember this now.”

She yawned and stretched before she sat up and rifled through their belongings looking for her wet bag. She opened it and grabbed her phone. She turned it on. “Please have bars,” she whispered and held it over the edge. “Oh yay.”

She’d programmed in the park’s emergency number before they had left and she quickly dialed them. “Yes. Me and one other person are trapped in The Narrows.”

He put his hand on her back to keep her steady as she leaned out, trying to keep her phone in service range. “We’re about a quarter mile downstream from the Deep Creek campsite where the canyon widens, about half way up the side of the west canyon wall on a ledge.”

“We’ve got a little food, a little water, and a blanket. We can make it until morning if we need to as long as it doesn’t start raining again.”

“Alright. Thank you.”

She settled back into their little burrow. “They’ve got two groups in worse situations than ours and then someone will come rescue us. It might not be until morning though.”

“Do you want to go back to sleep?”

“Might as well. There’s not much else to do.” She ate another protein bar and drank some more water before she curled back up into his warmth. For as mad at him as she knew she should be, she felt surprisingly at home pressed up against his bare chest in nothing but her underwear. She pressed her hand to his chest, over his heart. Its slow steady beat under her palm lulled her to sleep as he stroked her hair.

She wasn’t sure how much time had passed when she woke. The air had taken on the muted grey of cloud cover and she yawned and stretched. She’d be happy when they got rescued so that she could stand up again.

“Where’d you put the trail mix? It’s got chocolate in it.”

Henry laughed and grabbed for his shorts. He pulled out a bag of trail mix and handed it to her. She started picking out the M&Ms when their heads both lifted in unison. “Is that a helicopter?”

Three hours later, after being lashed into climbing harnesses and pulled up into the helicopter, and after the search and rescue team members all got photos of them rescuing Superman, they were checking in to the hotel they had planned on spending the night at, though after a much less adventurous day. She was in her camisole and cargo shorts, and luckily one of the search and rescue guys had lent Henry a shirt so he had something to wear with his.

Nora paused when the clerk said that they had reserved only a single room. “You only booked a single room?” she asked Henry.

“Yes. I thought that since we were sharing a tent you wouldn’t be opposed to sharing a room.”

“I don’t have to carry an extra hotel room on my back down a canyon!” She turned back to the clerk. “How many beds are in the room?”

“There’s one king sized bed.”

Nora shook her head. “Are there any other rooms available?”

“Yes.”

Nora pulled out her wetbag and found her wallet at the bottom of it. “I want my own room.”

“You don’t need your own room. There’s plenty of room for both of us.”

“But I  _want_  my own room.”

As they rode the elevator up to their floor, Henry apologized. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think it would be that much of a concern.”

“I’m not ready to have sex with you. I’m not ready to sleep with you,” she paused and laughed, “unless I’ll die if I don’t.”

Henry linked his hand through hers. “I didn’t book a single hotel room as some ploy, I promise.”

The elevator opened and they walked to their rooms. The clerk had put them next to each other. “I know. Like, I don’t think you’re trying to push anything sexually but you don’t listen to me when I say things. You think you know more than I do about what I want.”

“I don’t do that.”

She stopped in the hallway. “You just did it.” He reached for her and she pushed his hand away. “You told me I cooked the lamb wrong because it wasn’t how your mom made it. Well, I graduated from  _Le Cordon Bleu_ and your mom overcooks her lamb. You whined about not getting to go kayaking with me and I’ve been doing that since I was ten. You didn’t listen to me about flash flooding and we almost died. I don’t have a panic attack about rain. Nature doesn’t give me panic attacks. People do. You can’t just blow off every worry I have as me over reacting. I knew how bad the situation was, and you didn’t and you wouldn’t listen to me.”

She stuck the key in the slot and flipped the handle as the light turned green. She took a deep breath and rubbed her hands against her shorts as she stood in the open doorway and looked up at him. “I don’t know what kind of military family you grew up in, but I’m not your mom and I’m not looking for a commanding officer, and if you can’t accept that I can do things you can’t, and that I know more about some things than you do, then we’re not going to go anywhere. Just because I’m shy doesn’t mean I’m going to let you walk all over me or turn me into a copy of your mom because frankly, I’m pretty awesome as I am.”

Henry tried to take her hand again but she shook it off. “I’m serious. You need to figure out what you want in a girl, because the way you’re acting, it’s not me.”


	8. Chapter 8

Henry smiled down at the little girl who opened Nora’s door. She looked up at him, turned around, and ran back into the house. “Miss Nora, it’s your boyfriend!” Henry rubbed his forehead. That was probably not a good start to his time here.

She hurried to the door and pulled it partially closed behind her. “What are you doing here? I’m just finishing up my Brownie meeting.”

“I know. I thought I was close enough to the end that I would just be interrupting cookie time. I wanted to tell Bibi I would run with you if that’s still alright.”

She sighed and looked back over her shoulder as the high-pitched voices grew louder. “Henry, I don’t know if this is the right time for this.”

“Even if it’s just as friends, I’d still like to run with you and your girls. If you have time after the meeting we can talk, and if not I can come back some other time.”

Her lips pressed together in a fine line, but she sighed and shook her head. “Fine, come in.”

He followed her into a kitchen filled with little girls eating cookies. Several of them had milk mustaches. “Hello again.”

“Hello, Henry!” said several of them. Bibi didn’t say anything, just watched him with large brown eyes.

“I came by because Bibi asked if I would go running with you on the day of the race and I wanted to make sure that was alright with the rest of you before I said yes. I don’t want to intrude.”

The idea was met with giddy shrieks of approval and one demand that he wear his cape. “I’m not sure I’m allowed to do that, but I’ll check.”

When everything calmed back down, Nora ushered him into the study. “Stay in here until the girls are picked up. I don’t need gossiping moms seeing you here.” She handed him a cookie and shut the door.

He came out when he couldn’t hear the sound of little girl voices anymore and stopped as he saw Nora saying goodbye to the final two girls. She squatted down with the last girl before she left. “Mai, will you tell your mom what you told me or do you want me to tell her?”

The little girl hugged her. “I’ll tell her.”

“Okay. If you need help, you have my number, alright?” She chucked the child under her chin.

“Yep. Thanks, Miss Nora.”

Nora watched as Mai climbed into the backseat of the car with Elodie before she shut the door.

“What was that about?” he asked as he settled himself in one of the high-backed bar stools surrounding her kitchen island.

Nora picked up a cookie from the plate and broke it in half before she set it back down and poured Henry a glass of milk. She pushed the plate of cookies towards him and he took another one. “She’s getting picked on at school and I want to make sure she tells her mom.”

“Kids will be kids. I got called Fat Cavill in school.”

“Did you tell your parents?”

“The first time.” Henry shrugged. “My dad told me to punch the kid.”

Nora shook her head as she dipped her cookie in a cup of milk. “Right, because violence is always the answer.”

“It works a lot of the time.”

“So I’m supposed to tell sweet little Mai to punch the thirteen year old boy that keeps calling her racial slurs?”

Henry tugged at the collar of his shirt. Bullying was not what he had planned on talking about with her today. “Well, no. But sooner or later you have to stop swooping in and protecting your kids. They have to grow up. It’s tough out there.”

“It  _is_ tough out there in the real world. That’s why it shouldn’t be at home. Home is where your kids are supposed to feel safe. It’s supposed to be where they know they can come to be protected and helped.”

Henry stared down at the glass of milk sitting on the counter in front of him. “But not coddled.”

Nora blinked several times at the razor’s edge in his words and then leaned back against the edge of the counter. “Tell me Cavill, let’s say me and you work out and get married and have kids, and someday, our little eight year old daughter comes home and says there’s a thirteen year old boy picking on her. What do you do?”

He sat back as he regarded her. He knew this was a trap. “Go talk to his parents.”

“You wouldn’t just tell your daughter,  _our_ daughter, to tough it out?”

His jaw squared off at the challenge in her voice. He knew she was making him the bad guy here. “No.”

“Why not?”

He crossed his arms over his chest. If she wanted to have this fight, then he’d let her have it. “Because she’s a girl and it’s the dad’s job to protect his daughters.”

Nora raised a single eyebrow at his answer. “And when it comes to his sons? What’s he supposed to do there?”

His eyes flicked away from her before he answered. “He’s supposed to turn them into men.” He sounded like a robot reading out of a parenting manual.

“By letting them get picked on? Bullied? Beaten?”

He shrugged again. “I survived it. I turned out fine.”

Nora crossed the kitchen and sat in the barstool next to him. “Do you really think you’re fine?”

Henry pulled his hand back from where she had reached to touch it. “You think there’s something wrong with me?”

She grabbed his hand and pulled it back towards her and he watched as she slowly interlaced her fingers with his before she answered. “I think it’s easier to believe your dad was right than to believe he knew you were suffering and didn’t do anything to stop it.”

“The world’s a hard place, Nora.” He stared at their joined hands as he spoke. Nora tilted her head as she listened to him and the almost imperceptible quaver in his suddenly quiet voice. “We don’t all have enchanted castles to live in. Some of us had to be tough enough to go out and deal with the world.”

“The world’s going to keep being hard for as long as we keep hardening our children before we send them out into it.”

“So what, you think you would do children a favor by coddling them?”

There was that word again. She shook her head, her long hair falling forward over her shoulder. “Not coddling, protecting. You don’t make them strong enough to face the challenges by breaking them first.”

He tried to pull his hand back but she wouldn’t let him go. “So I’m broken.”

“Yeah, I think you are.”

He snorted in response. “Well, that’s flattering.”

“You said you were in love with Halla but you chased her off because you thought you knew what was best for her. You’re doing the same thing with me. I think you’ve grown up to be like your dad. He thought he knew what was best for you, and now you think the same thing. It’s safer that way. It hurts less.”

“It doesn’t hurt.” He carefully enunciated the words in an attempt to emphasize them.

“Really?”

“Really.”

Nora sat back against the hard metal of the stool and looked at Henry for a long time before she spoke. She rubbed her thumb against the back of his hand, and he watched, fixated by the motion, or at least acting like it so he wouldn’t have to look her in the face. “So I’m not sure if it’s because I’m shy or just who I am, but I love people watching. It’s fascinating, and you can learn so much about people by what they say or don’t say or how they say things. I watched some of your interviews and when you talk about bullying, you sound different. Like you’re talking to yourself rather than the interviewer. It’s a rehearsed answer. ‘Kids are mean, kids are cruel.’ And they are. They’re little sociopaths until they’re about eight. They literally don’t have the emotional skills to be anything else at that point. But when they get past that age and they’re still mean and they’re still cruel it’s because somebody lets them be that way. The adults have to let it happen.”

There were pain lines around his eyes and etched across his forehead when he looked up at her. “So am I supposed to be blaming my parents now? Blaming the kids who picked on me? Blaming their parents? Sooner or later I have to take responsibility for my own life, Nora. We all do.”

The vein in his neck was throbbing with his pulse, almost as much as the muscle in his jaw was twitching. She kept up the slow steady movement of her thumb over his hand. “I’m not asking you to blame anyone. I’m asking you who do you want to be? You are so sweet and tender with me almost all the time but then you have these moments where you’re a jerk. It’s like eating a perfect chocolate mousse and then biting into a huge rock of salt. It doesn’t belong in there. I love chocolate mousse, but if you keep having the huge chunks of salt I’m going to stop eating. Sooner or later, you have to choose to continue to follow the path you have in the past or you have to set out in a different direction.”

 “The direction where it’s  _not_  the father’s job to protect his daughters and turn,” he paused, swallowed, and then continued, “turn his sons into men.”

She had never heard him sound bitter like that before. She touched his chin and he lifted his eyes to meet hers. “The direction where it’s the parents’ responsibilities to raise and strengthen their children. Together. As equals.”

He shook his head and stared out the kitchen window. Nora watched him patiently as he thought. His eyes flickered periodically, and he finally turned back to her. “I don’t even know what that looks like.”

She looked at their joined hands and smiled. “It looks like you believing me when I tell you there’s a flash flood.”

He cupped her cheek with his hand and she looked back up at him, only to blush as she met his the pleading look in his eyes. “Can it look like me asking you to help me change?”

She smiled and nodded. “Absolutely,” she said softly.

“Will you help me, Nora?” Teach me how to love you?”

She gently wiped away the tear that was sitting at the corner of his eye. “I can teach you how to respect me. Loving me you’ll have to learn on your own.”

He leaned forward and rested his forehead against hers. “I think I’ve got it almost figured out.”


	9. Chapter 9

Henry looked at their bare feet, resting side by side on Nora’s coffee table. Her head was resting on his shoulder and he idly played with her hair as they watched the fire crackling in the stone hearth. The wind raged outside and he was exhausted. They had finished dinner and neither one of them were inclined to get up from the comfortable sofa. Nora wasn’t in nearly as bad of condition as he was. Of course she had known what she was doing out on the water, and he was forced to admit, he may have more muscle mass than she did, but he was fairly clueless when it had come to how to steer his kayak with heavy winds blowing the surface of the lake into a meringue of white tipped waves. He’d finally given up and let his kayak drift to shore and walked it back – Nora had said that was called portaging – watching Nora steadily make her way home into the face of the wind. She had been stowing her kayak when he made it back to her little boat house.

The smell of the cedar paneling lingered in the air, even with the wind kicking up even harder outside. Each side wall had multiple kayaks and canoes carefully hung, and the rafters were filled with a rainbow of oars and paddles. She watched out of the corner of her eye as he carried the kayak in and hung it on the wall.

“Alright, I get the point.”

“What point?” She racked the oars and ran her hands over them, checking for damage, so she had something to do besides look at him.

“Well, you nearly drowned me last time–,”

She giggled softly. “I didn’t nearly drown you. I was simply teaching you to roll properly.”

Henry chuckled and “Alright, well  _I_  nearly drowned myself last time.”

She laughed and turned around to look at him. His hair was a mess with wet curls sticking out in all directions. His shirt was soaked from the spray, and his shorts were wet from where it had splashed into his seat. The walk back must have been miserable. She almost felt bad for him. After all, she was the one who had dragged him out on the lake with Santa Ana winds coming down through the canyons. She’d wanted to see if he would learn his lesson.

“And  _this_  time I couldn’t deal with the wind and the current–,”

“On a lake,” Nora pointed out helpfully.

He arched an eyebrow at her reproachfully but its effect was belied by his grin. “On a lake,” he conceded, “I freely admit that I am nowhere near ready to go out with you and your friends this weekend.”

She held back the laugh that was burbling in her throat. “Is your manhood feeling diminished now?”

His eyebrow arched again, but this time it was much more flirtatious. “You come over here and tell me if my manhood feels diminished to you.”

Nora sauntered over to him, brushing a lifejacket hanging from the beams out of her way, and tugged up his damp shirt to reveal the waist of his shorts. She trailed a fingertip along the skin of his stomach, leaving a trail of goose bumps behind. She hooked her finger into the band. “You want me to check on your manhood, Henry?”

Henry swallowed in surprise. The last few weeks, since that night in her kitchen, they had limited their intimacy to kisses hello and goodbye. Since he had asked for her help he had felt like he was walking on eggshells, over-thinking every word and action to make sure he wasn’t being rude or thoughtless. While their banter had definitely grown more flirtatious, it hadn’t been followed up in practice.

She was looking up at him, her green eyes dark in the dim light coming in from the open door, as she waited for his response. It was reassuring to see her so confident with him that she would flirt like this. He had no idea how to respond to her, though. Yes, he wanted, but he knew he wasn’t supposed to admit to wanting.

“You can check if you want to.”

 The damp fabric dragged over his skin as she yanked up his shirt and ran her fingers over his chest. “Yep, still hairy. I think your manhood’s intact.”

Henry laughed and grabbed her around the waist, pulling her close. “You think you’re funny, don’t you.”

“Mmmm, pretty much, yep.” She grinned and then touched the hair on his chest again. “And I’m sure your other manhood’s just fine as well.”

The color was high in her cheeks and here was the downcast gaze he was used to. “And how do you figure that?”

“Well, I’m pretty sure you have enough going on down there that even  a small amount of shrinkage wouldn’t be problematic.

Henry tilted his head to the side. She looked at him out of the corner of her eyes and the color in her cheeks intensified as she dropped her eyes to his chest again. She hadn’t bothered fixing his shirt and her fingers mindlessly stroked his chest. “What brings you to that conclusion, darling?”

“Well, I saw  _Man of Steel._ Your suit didn’t leave much to the imagination.”

A smiled pulled at the corner of his mouth. “Ah.”

“And, sometimes, you’re not as,” she began to laugh and rested her forehead against his shoulder, “when I was sitting on your lap in the tent, when we were kissing? You were kind of stabbing me in the hip.”

He chuckled and kissed the top of her head. “Sorry about that.” He smoothed his hand over her hair. Droplets of water were caught like moonstones on the strands that had come loose from her braid.

“It happens.” She shrugged and giggled again. “It’s not like you were humping my thigh or anything.”

He cupped her cheek with his hand. “I would never push you to do anything you’re not comfortable with, Nora.”

“Do you realize how often you say that?”

“I want you to know that I respect you. I want you to feel safe.”

Her brows pulled together and she stepped back from him. “Is that what respect is to you? Not pushing a girl for sexy times?”

“That’s what I was taught growing up. Open her doors, help her with her chair at the table, stand up when she enters or leaves a room, and never press for anything.”

“And that’s all you have to do to respect a woman?”

“Yes. I mean, no, but that’s how I was raised.” He pulled his shirt back down and tugged at the neck. “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with those guidelines.” He ran his hand through his hair, smoothing down the crazy curls a bit. “I  _want_ to open the door for you and I never want you to be uncomfortable because of something I’ve done. But maybe it’s better to think about them as how to respect any woman, but then I need to find out how to respect my woman, too.”

“And am I your woman?”

He held his hand out to her, eyebrows raised hopefully. She put her hand in his larger one and he pulled her back into his arms. “I’d like to think so. Only if you want to be. And if you want me to be your man. I know we haven’t really ever had a formal discussion about that. I should probably ask instead of just assuming.”

She nodded but then looped her arms around his neck. “I think us spending time together almost every day for the last month is probably a good sign for you though.”

His arms tightened around her waist. “I feel like I’m constantly second guessing everything I do now with you. I mean, I wasn’t that horrible of a guy before, was I?”

“No. You were like a big sparkly diamond with a visible flaw in it. You’re still a diamond, but you’re not one I’d stick in a wedding ring.”

“And you’re looking for a wedding ring.”

Her nose wrinkled. “I’m looking for a wedding ring worthy diamond. That’s not even really true. I’ve never been a fan of white diamonds. Maybe as an accent stone, but not as the main one.” She shook her head. “That’s not the point. I’m looking for someone to share my life with. I know it’s not the thing these days; that I’m supposed to want more than to be a wife and a mom, but that’s what I’ve always wanted. A comfortable home filled with love and laughter and a full cookie jar and family dinners and all of that stuff. I’ve always wanted a Christmas that was more than just two stockings hanging from the mantle, and where the whole family was in one house, instead of Christmas Eve at my mom’s and Christmas Day with my dad.” She wiped away the tears stinging her eyes. “I know it’s dumb and I’m supposed to be more ambitious than that, but maybe the cookbook I write will be the one with all my kids’ favorite foods in it, and memories surrounding when we served each dish, and I’ll give them a copy when they move out.”

She turned her back to Henry and wiped the tears that had spilled down the sides of her nose. “I’m sorry. I really didn’t mean to cry.”

Henry wrapped his arms around her from behind. “You never have to apologize for sharing your feelings with me, Nora.”

“It’s just a sensitive spot for me. My friends tease me about finding a sugar daddy, but I know the only way I can ever get that dream is to find someone I trust completely. Someone I know isn’t going to change his mind in ten years and get a trophy wife. Someone who’s going to help me grow, and love me even when I change. Someone who respects  _me_ and knows that I’m more than just a body. I’m a soul. And guys like that are really hard to find, and it sucks knowing your biggest hope for the future depends so much on someone else.”

Henry kissed her hair. “Those were the words I needed and couldn’t come up with on my own. All those rules I was taught were about respecting your body, as if that’s all you are. But respecting your soul. That’s what I need to work on.”

She scrubbed her face with her hands and turned back around. “You should go put some dry clothes on before you catch a chill. You want to come back over for dinner?”

“Are you going to let me help cook?”

“I was going to call for takeout. I’ll let you throw the containers away by yourself when we’re done, though.” She smiled up at him and he kissed her softly.

“It’s a date.”

He’d finished cleaning up after dinner and as they sat together on the sofa, he leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. “Will you be my woman?”

Nora giggled. “Yes. I’ll be your woman.”

“That makes me happy. You make me happy.”

She turned her face towards him. “You make me happy, too.”

He grinned. “I had an idea, and at first I thought it was a good idea, but the more I thought about it, the more it became the worst idea I have ever had.”

She giggled and turned on the couch so she was facing him. “Well, this I have to hear.” She crossed her legs in front of her.

“I was trying to think of something I could do for you, to show you how much I cared, and that I supported you. That I believed in you. And I know you want to write a cookbook, but you said you couldn’t really get it published without having your own show on the telly, so I thought that I could call some people and get you an audition for your own show. You know, as a surprise.”

Nora’s eyes widened as she leaned back from him.

“And then I realized that shoving you in front of a whole bunch of people you didn’t know and putting it on video was probably your worst nightmare ever.”

She took a deep breath. “Well, I’m glad you figured that out.” She put her hand over her chest, “Gah, my heart is racing just thinking about that.”

He reached for her and she crawled towards him. He wrapped her in his arms against his chest. “I’m sorry, darling. I didn’t mean to scare you. I just wanted you to know that I’m learning.” Henry stroked her hair. “I’m so sorry.”

“Well, if we’re going to talk about ideas that scare the crap out of me, would you be willing to help me host Thanksgiving this year?”

“If I help host does that mean I’m allowed in the kitchen?”

She scratched her chin with the tip of a finger as her face crinkled thoughtfully. “A little bit. I’ll let you stir something.”

“Then I’m delighted to help.”

She nestled back into his side. “I’m hoping that if you help that I won’t chicken out. You can help keep me calm and tell me that I’m not going to food poison everyone or drop a turkey on someone’s head.”

Henry smiled and kissed her hair. “There will be no food poisoning or dropping of poultry on the guests.”

“You just tell me that several times a day for the next few weeks and I think I’ll be okay.”

He tipped her face up so she was looking at him. “You’ll be amazing. You always are.”

Nora stared into his eyes. She’d never seen eyes like his, big and honest and with a layer of vulnerability to them that had never been there before. “You really mean that, don’t you?”

“I do.”

Her eyes fell to his mouth and the she bit her lip as she looked back up at him. “I think you should kiss me now.” She didn’t wait for him to take the lead but wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him towards her. He caught her face in his hands and pressed his lips to her mouth. She was warm and soft and as their mouths slowly moved, trading kiss after kiss, Henry felt the nervousness that had plagued him since that afternoon walking the kayak back to Nora’s house dissipate. He wrapped his arms tighter around her back and she shifted on the sofa, and before he realized what she was doing, she was straddling his lap. She rocked forward until she was pressed firmly against him, and then sighed softly as she relaxed into her new position, her body pressed against his.

Henry’s breath caught for a second as his mind processed the sensation of her warm body in his lap and as he shifted his weight, she moved with him and he groaned softly as their bodies rubbed together. One of his hands fell to her bum and he cupped the curve of her rear and pulled her closer. She kissed his jaw and as she started to kiss down his neck, he began to truly believe that she wasn’t put off that he wasn’t any good at kayaking. He wondered what it would be like to spend his life with someone who didn’t demand perfection in every endeavor but cared for him anyway.

It was like being released from shackles he didn’t know he’d been wearing his whole life. He buried his fingers in her hair and brought her face to his for another kiss. He didn’t know how to put what he was feeling into words, but as they moved together, Nora felt his adoration in the way his lips brushed against her skin, the feel of his tongue against her throat, the touch of his hand against her back.

His hand was under her shirt and his fingers against his skin made her want his touch everywhere. She rubbed her hips against him and heard him groan deep in his throat. A smile teased her mouth as she let her head fall back as he kissed across her collarbone and onto the skin revealed by the vee of her shirt. She rubbed against him again, so terribly slowly, letting herself feel every contour of his body. Both of his hands were flat on her back, holding her upright as he kissed across her shoulder. The feel of his groan as she moved against him caused a long-suppressed desire to smolder to life in her groin.

She rocked against him again and he tumbled with her so that she was on her back and he was over her, kneeling between her legs as he continued to kiss her skin. Her hands tightened in his hair as he kissed down her chest, over the swell of her breasts, down her stomach and then pulled up her shirt enough to kiss her stomach. He licked her skin and bit at her softly muscled tummy. Nora arched up off the couch at the touch of his teeth and he slipped his hand under her back, keeping her drawn taut against his mouth.

Nora wrapped a leg around Henry’s hips and rocked against him again. His hand slid from her back to her rear and he ground against her as he held her in place, letting her feel how hard he was getting. He looked up from her stomach to watch her reaction and the gently moaned call of his name made all the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. He moved up her body to kiss her again, drawn to the delicate sounds she made, wanting to feel them tingle across his lips.

Her legs tightened around his hips as he kissed her and the soft sounds she made as their lips teased and tugged and tempted made him feel strong again. He kissed down her throat as his fingers dug into her bum and they ground against each other. His mouth travelled over her shirt and he kissed her breast, feeling the lace of her bra against his lips through the thin cotton of her top. He mouthed the full swell of her curves, kissing and nipping gently until he felt the unmistakeable point of her nipple and he sucked it through her shirt, rubbing the lace of her bra against it with his tongue. Her nails dug into his shoulder and he slid his hand from her bum up her side and under her shirt. He squeezed the warm soft flesh, massaging her stomach, making sure she knew where his hand was as it slid up her side. She pressed up against his hand as it moved, slowly changing the arch of her spine. He pressed a kiss to the crook of her neck as his hand closed over her breast, feeling both lace and her skin. She wrapped her arm around his head for a moment as her breath splintered and then relaxed again. He squeezed her breast and then began to stroke her nipple through the lace as he licked the soft skin under her jaw. He breathed against it and she shuddered.

Nora called Henry’s name again, and he kissed her in response. He hooked his arm under her head and pressed against her side with his hips. “Can you move onto your side?”

She shifted with him and they faced each other, Nora’s head resting in the crook of Henry’s arm. He softly kissed her, his hand cupping her breast but not moving.

“Did I do something wrong?” she asked.

“No! Oh, no, not at all.” He undid another button on his shirt and put her hand on his chest. “Here, feel free to play with your security blanket.”

Nora giggled and ran her fingers over his chest hair.

“This is going to sound stupid, and part of me is telling the rest of me to shut up, but I’m going to say it anyway.” He swallowed and smoothed her hair back from her face. “I want to wait.”

Her eyes widened. “You want to wait?”

“I’m not saying that we would have had sex tonight, but I want to wait until you know that I’m a wedding ring worthy diamond,” he grinned, “even though you don’t want a diamond wedding ring.” He tapped his forehead with a finger.

“Do my breasts feel strange or something?”

“Oh, no, my Nora.” He cupped her face and kissed her until her breath scorched her lungs. “There is  _nothing_ wrong with you. Nothing at all. That’s why. Everything about you is right. I don’t want to make love to you until you know I respect you. Not just your body, but your soul. I’m falling in love with you, Nora. The forever kind of love, and I want our first time to reflect that. I want it to be more than about hormones.”

Her eyes narrowed. “There’s a big part of your brain yelling at you to shut up right now, isn’t there.”

He chuckled. “About 49% of me is yelling at me to shut up and just go wherever the night may lead. But the slight majority of me wants to just lay with you and kiss and talk and find out what your favorite animal is. I want to know everything about you, Nora.”

His arm tightened around her waist and her fingers curled into his chest hair.

“It’s an elephant.”

 


	10. Chapter 10

Henry and Nora were waiting.

Every night ended with long conversations on his sofa or hers as they discussed their childhoods and dreams for the future. Nora revealed more of her deadpan sense of humor that always caught Henry unaware, and he revealed some of the struggles he’d had growing up; things he had never talked about with anyone else. Their talks almost always turned into long sessions of making out as lips and tongues found something more enjoyable to do than talk. They had been good about keeping their clothes on and hands were staying over the clothing and above the waist, except for those evenings when she would end up in his lap and his hands would stray from her back to her hips and eventually settle on her rear.  Henry found her an intoxicating combination of soft curves over lean muscle. Last night, as his hand had closed over her breast, it was obvious through the thin fabric of her tee that she wasn’t wearing a bra. The weight of her breast filled his palm as he cupped it and then let his thumb stroke over the hard nipple.

“Nora,” he sighed, as he squeezed her breast, the nipple caught between his fingers. His hands fell to the hem of her shirt and began to pull the tissue-thin fabric upwards.

Nora slithered off his lap and threw open the French doors as she hurried out onto her patio.

Henry sat for a minute, trying to calm down before he followed her. He wasn’t angry, but the hormones raging through him had muddled his mind. Once the blood supply was reestablished to his brain, he followed her out onto the patio. She was standing at the edge of the patio by the flower covered rock wall, looking out at the moonlight reflecting off the surface of the lake. He stopped a few feet away from her. “Nora?”

“So we were going to wait until I was ready,” she started, her voice pitching up at the end of each phrase like a question. It was several notes higher than normal and she was shredding a flower to pieces as she talked. “And that was a good plan because I wasn’t ready and we wouldn’t have had sex that night anyway but knowing that you wanted to wait and that I wouldn’t feel like you were irritated at having to wait until I felt comfortable because it takes me longer than most girls was really good but I am ready now emotionally, because I love you and I want to have sex with you and I didn’t wear a bra tonight and I wore yoga pants instead of jeans and I straddled your lap because I want to feel you and touch you and I want to make love to you but then the reality of that sets in and like sex is a big deal and what if we’re not good together and you’re like cycling the Tour de France and I’m still on training wheels–,”

“Nora,” he interrupted.

“You’re gonna see me naked!” she wailed.

Henry did not think this was the appropriate time to point out that he had seen her almost naked in their disastrous trip through The Narrows. “Eventually. Someday. I hope.”

She dropped the depetalled flower and ran her hand through her hair, leaving her arm on top of her head as she stared over the lake.

“Can I hold you? Is it alright if I touch you?”

She whirled around and flung herself into his arms. “This is such a big step for me.” She hid her face against his chest.

Henry stroked his hand over her hair and down her back. “We don’t have to have sex tonight.”

She sighed. “But I want to.”

“But I don’t want you having a panic attack about this, darling.”

She traced the logo on his shirt, her fingertip recreating the lines of the crest. “My clothes are my protection, my way of being invisible in a crowd. And if I take them off, or if I let you take them off, then you see me. And I can’t hide.”

“Do you want to hide from me?”

“No.”

Henry slipped a hand under her shirt and let it skim up her back. “You said something earlier that you’ve never said before.” He kissed her hair.

“What?”

The words had stunned him so much that it had taken him a few seconds to catch back up with her when he started listening again. “That you love me.”

“I do.” His hand tightened in her hair. “That wasn’t really how I planned on telling you, but I do love you. These last few weeks have been amazing and you’ve singlehandedly kept me from cancelling Thanksgiving at least once a day and you’re just wonderful.”

He gently tipped up her face so he could see her. The moonlight bleached out the color in everything around them, but she still looked beautiful. “I love you, too, Nora. These last six weeks have been amazing. I love you, and I want to make love to you because I love you. It’s just one more way for us to care about each other. It shouldn’t be something to cause you stress. No, that’s wrong. You are allowed to be stressed out, and I won’t tell you what you should feel. But if there’s something I can do to help you feel less stressed, please tell me.”

She stroked his cheek and then kissed the dimple in his chin. “You don’t want to wait anymore?”

“I never really  _wanted_  to wait; I  _needed_  to wait. I need you to want this, to feel comfortable with me. You don’t give pieces of yourself easily, Nora. Even with your clothes; I’ve never seen you wear something that didn’t have sleeves and go at least to your knees. You don’t share yourself lightly, and I didn’t want you to share yourself with me if there was a chance you would regret it.”

“I want this. I want you. I want us. I’m nervous though.”

A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “You’re not the only one, darling.”

“You’re nervous?”

“I think everyone is nervous before their first time with someone. Am I going to do it right? What if they don’t like my body? What if they don’t think I’m any good? What if I start laughing when they touch me because I get ticklish when I’m nervous?”

Her eyes widened and she giggled. “You get ticklish when you’re nervous?”

He chuckled and stared at the sky overhead for a few seconds before he looked at her and nodded. “Yeah, sometimes.”

“So, being nervous about this is normal?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t…I get….It’s like… I’m so much shy,” she rested her forehead against his chest. “Gah, that’s not even English.”

He tipped her face up to him again and kissed her. “Why don’t we go back inside, and turn on some music, and we can dance for a little while to your honky tonk playlist, and we’ll just be together. No pressure, no expectations, just two nervous people dancing.”

“I forget that nervous is normal and okay sometimes.”

He took her hands in his. “Come dance with me.”

She relaxed as they danced, and the carefully precise way she held his hand quickly melted into Henry wrapping his hand tenderly around hers as she placed it on his chest. Her temple rested against his chin and he periodically brushed his lips against the delicate skin. He had lost track of how many songs they had listened to, swaying in her living room, the crackle and snap of the applewood fire the only sound other than the soft music.

Henry had learned a lot of Nora’s favorite songs in the weeks they had spent together. When “Wagon Wheel” came on, he softly sang along with chorus. “Rock me, momma, like a wagon wheel, rock me momma, anyway you feel. Hey, momma, rock me.” Nora smiled up at him, amused by the contrast between his refined accent and the earthy lyrics. She shifted her position in his arms so that their legs were interlaced, pressing closer to him. His hand moved up under her shirt and settled on her back, his fingers stroking over the warm skin. As they danced, his leg pressed against the apex of her thighs with each step and Nora’s smile faded as she focused on Henry’s lips. The color flamed in her cheeks as she looked up at him through her lashes and found him equally intent on her mouth. She licked her dry lips and looked away, only to find her gaze drawn back when he started singing again.  “Rock me, momma, like a wagon wheel, rock me momma, anyway you feel. Hey, momma, rock me.” He let go of her hand long enough to lift her chin so they were looking into each others’ eyes. “Rock me, Nora, like the wind and the rain; rock me, Nora, like a south-bound train. Hey, Nora, rock me.”

The fiddle finished out the last few bars and as the steel guitar started the next song, they didn’t move, both of them transfixed by the other. Nora’s fingers tightened on Henry’s shoulder as she lifted onto the balls of her feet and paused.

First kisses are always magical, whether it is the first kiss of a lifetime or just of a particular interlude. Knowing it’s a first kiss means you know there will be a second, and possibly a third, and so you prolong that moment to keep the magic wrapped around you for as long as possible. It’s why that time between where you lean in and when your lips actually touch is so poignant, filled with sweet anticipation of something desperately yearned for and imminently to be fulfilled. It’s why you touch your partner’s face, stare at their lips, and brush noses when you know it is a first kiss and not a kiss hello or goodbye.

And so, Nora paused as her lips hovered in front of Henry’s. She already knew the taste of his kisses and the irregular topography of his teeth and still she stopped before she kissed him, letting the moment linger portentous in its ability to change their future. She drew her fingertips along his jaw and brushed over the dimple in his chin. His lips closed as he swallowed and their noses kissed as he brought his hand to her face and softly cradled her cheek before their lips touched.

Nora sighed against his mouth and her hands caught in the front of his shirt as he kissed her with a gentle surety that soothed the last tremulous worries in the back of her mind. This was right. This was why they had waited; so that she wouldn’t feel anxious in his arms as she bared her body to him; so that she would know he would be as careful with her soul as her body.

She put her hand over his and linked their fingers together before she began to walk down the hall, taking Henry with her. He had never been down this hall before. He’d actually seen very little of her house. The kitchen and living room was where they spent almost all of their time when they weren’t out on the patio together. Except for the one time she had hidden him in the office, she had kept him in the public areas of her house. Now, as she opened the door to her bedroom, he was being let into more than just a room. He was being let into her private life.

He closed the door behind him and she hesitated before she led him into the middle of the room, their steps silenced by the thick slate grey carpet. The vaulted ceiling was white with an elaborate chandelier hanging from the center. It wasn’t lit right now, the only light in the room provided by the moon streaming in the windows of the turret that formed one corner of the room, casting the grey walls into even darker shadow and highlighting the patterns in the elaborate moldings. Splashes of color were found in the rough gold silk covering the seat of her vanity chair, and a vase of lilies in every shade of yellow and orange sat on the table, reflected in the ornately framed mirror.

“So, this is my bedroom.”

Henry looked around the room for what was missing. “Where do you… Oh.” He stopped as his eyes fell on the back of what must be her bed. The tall headboard faced into the turret, so that Nora would be completely hidden from view if the bedroom door were to be opened while she was sleeping. “You really are a princess in a tower, aren’t you, Nora?”

“A little bit. A very nervous princess at the moment.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Would it make you feel better if I took off my shirt?”

Nora giggled. “Yeah, I think it would.”

Henry grabbed the neck of his shirt and pulled it off over his head. When he opened his eyes, Nora’s head was tilted to the side, gazing at him.

“Well, I don’t know if that made me feel better, but it definitely made me feel…different.” Henry realized that he’d never had his shirt off in front of her before. She’d obviously seen most of his chest in various ways, but apparently seeing the whole thing at once, while not dying of hypothermia, was having an effect on her.

“Different good or different bad?”

“Oh, it’s good.” Her head was still tilted to one side as she trailed a finger down his sternum. “You’re very pretty.”

Henry laughed as he grabbed her hand. “No.  _You’re_  very pretty.” He tugged her against his chest and she wrapped her arms around his neck. “I love you, Nora.”

“I love you too, Henry.”

He kissed her then and the moonlight flirted with clouds, letting them dance in and out of shadow and gleam as their hands and mouths moved. Nora kissed down Henry’s neck, across his shoulder, her hands stroking over his chest as his fingers tangled in her hair. And then Henry pulled off Nora’s shirt and she covered her chest with her arms as her eyelashes fluttered against her cheeks. Henry picked her up and carried her to her bed and lay down with her on the velvet blankets, surrounded by pillows in every shade of the rising sun. He kissed her softly, over and over again, until she wrapped her arms around him and he tightened his arm around her waist, pulling her body flush against his. She moaned against his lips as her nipples rubbed against the coarse hair on his chest and he continued to kiss her, nudging up her chin so he could lick the soft skin of her neck and trail kisses down the warm flesh.

Nora let her head fall back at his gentle urging. His incipient beard was rough against her skin, but his lips were tender and soft. His teeth felt even better against her throat than on her bottom lip, and as his warm tongue traced a pattern across her collarbone she sighed softly and arched up against him. His hand squeezed her waist and his thumb stroked against her ribcage. She didn’t stop him as his hand moved up over her skin and closed over her breast. Instead, she sighed his name and he kissed her again, his tongue flirting with hers as he stroked his fingers back and forth over her nipple. She could feel it hardening even more under his touch. She’d always been very self-conscious about her nipples, about how prominent they were even when she wasn’t cold or aroused, but Henry caught the tip between his fingers and tugged and she dug her nails into his back as the spark of pleasure bowed her back and coursed through her body. Henry stopped kissing her and looked into her eyes as he tugged at the sensitive skin again and a slow smile curved the corner of his mouth as she responded similarly.

He bent his head to her breast and licked the ruddy point before taking it in his teeth. He licked and sucked and tugged at her nipple as his hand played with the other one and until he could hear Nora’s breath coming in little gasps and then he switched sides. Her fingers twisted in his hair as his mouth closed on her other breast and her hips bucked up under him as he continued to tease her nipple. Henry grasped her leg and hooked it around his thigh and then stroked his hand up and down her leg as he kissed her breasts, worshipping her soft skin and lovely curves. He trailed the point of his tongue along the line where her breast gave way to her ribs, wanting to taste every inch of her body.

Nora rubbed up against him like she was propelled by a steam engine, compelled to move by the fire he was stoking inside her. She was merely holding on, having surrendered to Henry’s mouth on her skin and his hand etching fiery trails along her leg with his touch. Her hands moved over every inch of his body she could reach, the silk of his curls, the heat of his skin, mapping the shift and dip of every inch of the new terrain she had to survey. The curves and hollows of his body were more beautiful than the Grand Canyon, and she wanted to spend weeks exploring the features of his arms and shoulders, to slide across the smooth planes of his back, to crawl through the hair on his chest and follow his happy trail to its head. She bit her lip as she rubbed her hips up against him again, unable to hold back a needy whine as she felt the hard outline of his erection rub against her.

Henry got the point of her movements and kissed down her stomach, dipping his tongue into her navel right above the waistband of her pants. He looked up the length of her body as he continued to kiss downward, over the fabric, an inch at a time. She lifted up on her elbows to watch as he put his hands on her knees and dragged them down to her juncture over the stretchy black knit. His fingertips brushed together before his hands slipped to her inner thighs and travelled back upwards, spreading her legs further apart. The fabric was warm under his lips, and as he kissed right over the core it was damp under his lips and he caught a whiff of her sweet arousal.

Nora gasped as he licked her, pressing the fabric tight against her core. He hooked his fingers into the waist of her pants and she lifted her hips so he could pull them off. Henry sat back on his heels as he tugged them down, taking her simple yellow cotton knickers with them. Nora closed her legs as he tossed them aside, her heels tucked up against her bum, but as Henry ran his hands along the outsides of her thighs, she let them fall open into his palms. He kissed the inside of her knee as he looked at her, a question in his eyes.

Nora nodded and then fell back against the pillows as he continued to kiss down the inside of her leg, licking and nipping as he went. His hand slid down the outside of her other thigh, and she put her fingers over his when she felt his cheek against her damp skin as he licked the dip where her thigh joined her body. She sucked in air as she felt his breath against her folds and didn’t breathe at all as his lips brushed against them, but when she felt his warm tongue against her skin she groaned. Her fingers tightened over Henry’s hand and he lifted her leg over his shoulder as he licked her again, this time with more pressure.

Henry ran the tip of his tongue between her wet folds, skimming over her clit with the barest touch. Her body quivered and his name shattered into pieces as she whispered it.  She tasted rich on his tongue, her skin smooth and plump against his lips. Her fingers tightened around his hand and he took her hand with his other one and transferred it to his hair, giving her something to hold on to. He wanted both of his hands free to pleasure her, but he knew she needed something to grasp; she needed to feel connected to him. He lifted her other leg onto his shoulders and bent to lick her again, dipping inside of her folds.

This time he spread her open with his thumbs and licked her firmly, pressing against her entrance and over her clit. Her hand tightened in his curls and he repeated the motion, and as he looked up at her he could see her body form a beautiful arch, her breasts pressing upward, her nipples hard. Once more he licked her before he circled his tongue around her clit, teasing it, teasing her by not giving her what she most wanted. Her hips gyrated, trying to move his tongue to where she craved it and he lapped at her clit. She moaned and her nails scraped against his scalp and he lapped at it again. Her second moan made it obvious that she wanted him right there, so he drew it into his mouth and sucked.

Nora took her hand away from his head, not wanting to pull his hair out, as he ran his tongue in circles over her clit, the constant movement vibrating through her and setting her nerves on fire. He drew his teeth across it as he let it go and before she could protest, she felt his tongue press inside her, curl upwards and lick at her inner skin. She grabbed onto the blanket, the velvet soft against the palms of her hands as he pressed deeper inside her. She squeezed her eyes shut as her mouth fell open. She had forgotten how amazing it felt to have someone touch her like this. Her boyfriends had been much more enthusiastic about her going down on them than vice versa, but Henry seemed to actually be enjoying himself. She lifted her head to look at him and he looked up at the same time and their eyes locked. She reached for him and sunk her fingers into his hair again just as he pressed a finger inside her.

Nora’s hand faltered as she forgot to breathe. That was it; she hadn’t forgotten about how good it felt. It had never felt like this before. She’d never been able to come like this before, but every screaming nerve in her body being pulled taut and anchored to her clit knew that this time it was going to happen. Her head fell back as her hips moved with his tongue and finger. His tongue moved faster and she could feel him watching her writhe on the bed, unable to cope with the need he was invoking in her body. His finger stroked her as he licked, and the wetness on her thighs was cold as his breath fanned over it.

She dripped down Henry’s finger as he pressed it deeper inside her. She was rocking against his face, against his hand, and he finally wrapped his arm around her leg and grabbed her hip to hold her steady. She whined as she tugged upwards, trying to free herself from his grip, wanting to grind against him, but his hand was firm as it held her to the bed where the velvet rubbed against her bum, caressing her skin with every small movement she made. Henry sucked her clit between his lips and scraped his teeth against it as he added a second finger to the first as her heels dug into his back and her cry rent the silence of the room.

He curled his fingers, seeking out the special spot deep inside her, wanting to know where her sweet spots were. Every woman was slightly different and he wanted to know exactly how to touch her, where to touch her, to bring her the greatest pleasure. If the slightly different feel of her skin under his fingers hadn’t told him he had found it, the way her hips thrashed would have been evidence enough. He stroked against it again and she cried his name, grabbing his hair painfully. He flicked his tongue against her clit, over and over, as he pumped his fingers inside her, bent to her pleasure. He let go of her hip as she strained upward, her shoulders on the bed and her feet on his back, her body taut with the building pressure. He moaned against her, wanting to encourage her, to reassure her, but not willing to relinquish his mouth’s position wrapped around her clit.

The pressure deep in her pelvis was almost painful as her body strained after what Henry was offering. His hand was stroking her leg and she grabbed it, interlocking her fingers with his. She squeezed, digging in her fingers into the back of his hand with enough pressure to make the skin go white, and his thumb rubbed tenderly over the back of her hand. That simple movement, that reassuring caress, the love that it embodied, sent her spiraling upward, and she exploded like a firework, bursting into thousands of pieces of light as she cried out.

Henry slowed his movements but didn’t stop as her body trembled and when she was finally still, he pressed a final kiss against her before he withdrew his fingers. Her body quivered one more time and then he laid down next to her, resting his hand on her warm stomach. Nora leaned over and kissed him and he drew her against him as she licked the taste of herself off of his mouth.

She undid the button on his jeans and Henry closed his hand over hers. “We don’t have to go any further tonight.”

Nora’s eyes were wide as she looked at him. “Oh yes we do. I am  _not_  done with you yet.”

Henry laughed and she pulled down the zipper. “We don’t have to go any further,” she mimicked. “Great big dummy you are if you think you’re getting out of here with anything less than the full enchilada.”

“I’m not really sure if that’s a euphemism or not, but I believe I get the point.” He stopped the downward progression of his jeans long enough to remove a condom from his wallet and then helped her rid him of the rest of his clothing. He kicked his jeans off of the bed as Nora looked at his erection for the first time.

She shrugged. “Well, I’ve seen bigger, but I guess that’ll do.”

Henry blinked repeatedly in surprise, his eyebrows furrowed as he stared in dismay at the slightly disappointed look on her face. And then she started laughing. “Oh, you little brat,” he growled and lunged for her. Their tickle fight was short lived as he quickly pinned her to the bed. She hooked her legs around him, her feet resting in the bend of his knees, and seemed quite happy to have lost their game judging by the smile on her face. “God, I love you, woman.” He bent to kiss her and she tugged her arms free from where he had pinned them and wrapped them around his neck.

“I love you, too, Henry.”

Their tender kiss quickly turned heated as Nora stretched under Henry, rubbing against him, and her legs went from hooked around his thighs to wrapped around his waist. His cock was rubbing against her stomach as they touched each other and he wanted in her, finally, to feel her wrap around him and take him as deep as she was able. He sat back long enough to put on the condom and her arms were outstretched for him as he went back to her, kissing down her neck as her hands closed in his hair.

He reached between their bodies and grabbed his cock, positioning it at her entrance, and then kissed her again. He began to press into her, watching her face as he moved deeper. Her eyes fell shut and her lips opened on a sigh as he pulled back and pushed in again, further this time. He clenched his jaw as he concentrated on not rushing her. She was hot and wet and deliciously tight around him, and if he hadn’t cared, he could have just sank himself into her with a single hard thrust. But this was about her pleasure as much as his and he wanted her to feel as good as possible. Besides, the look on her face was enchanting as she surrendered to him. She lifted her hips and her hands moved down his back and settled on his waist before they pulled him closer. She whimpered as he withdrew almost completely and then he pressed into her again, sheathing himself inside her completely.

Nora groaned as he claimed her fully. She’d never actually seen bigger in person, and feeling him inside her, stretching her open had changed the blood running through her veins into lava, burning along her skin. Her nails raked down his back as he began to move, thrusting within her. He ran his hand along her thigh and hooked her leg up around his waist again and she locked her ankles behind his back. The new angle caused him to rub against her clit with every thrust and she pressed up, wanting more of the sweet pleasure he was sending through her body with every movement.

He kissed her neck, her shoulder, across her chest as they moved together. Nora pulled him back up to her for another kiss, biting his bottom lip and then sucking at it. “Henry.” His name was a plea, a prayer for relief from the sweet ecstasy coursing through her, for him to move faster, deeper, harder, as she could feel her body already seeking after a repeat of the explosions that had shattered it not so long ago. She wrapped her arms around his neck, clinging to him, savoring the ripple of his muscles through his shoulders as he moved.

He was resting on his elbows as he moved over her and he brushed his mouth against her ear. “You are so beautiful, Nora. You are so amazingly beautiful like this.”

“Henry,” she whimpered as she dug her hands into the bedding, “I need you.”

He kissed her throat, licking her glistening skin. “I’m right here, princess. I’m right here.”

“I need you to love me,” she whispered.

“Oh, Nora,” he raised his head so he could look at her, the pink flush spreading over all her face and not just across her cheeks. “I love you, Nora. Now and always.”

She moaned again, her body pursuing an entirely different course than her brain. “Don’t leave me.”

“I won’t, darling. I promise.”

“Everyone always leaves.” For all the pleasure her body was experiencing, it wasn’t enough to hide the pain in her eyes.

Henry paused as he looked at her, wondering not for the first time how different she might be if her parents hadn’t divorced when she was two, if her mother hadn’t basically disappeared from her life, if her father hadn’t died when she was fourteen, leaving her alone with a mother she barely knew, a mother who would disappear again when she turned eighteen. He kissed her softly. “Not me, Nora. I’m not everyone, and I’m not going to leave you.” He pushed his arm under her head so he could hold her closer, and linked their fingers together. “I’m never going to leave you, darling,” he whispered against her ear. They held on to each other, bodies moving as they created their own little world, the atmosphere created by their moans and sighs.  Nothing existed except the two of them together. The rapid drumbeat of their hearts was echoed by the sounds of their bodies as the tender reassurance of kisses and whispers gave way to her moans and the slick wet accompaniment of Henry driving into her body.

She whimpered his name, and this time there was no pain in her glazed eyes. He loosened his grasp on her, letting go of her hand so that he could stroke her clit and give her the final push she needed. Her now free hand dug into his shoulder as her chin lifted towards the ceiling, her mouth open in a silent primal cry. Her chest arched up against his and he kissed her throat again, his tongue hot against her flushed skin. His fingers rubbed quickly over her clit and her body twitched. She cried his name again, the last syllable being drawn out into a jubilant cry as her heels dug into his arse and her body stiffened and froze, motionless except for the feel of her pussy convulsing around his cock.

“Oh, god, Nora!” Henry grunted out her name as he drove into her, the unmistakable beckoning of her body calling to him like a siren song. He pounded into her, hard erratic thrusts as his head fell back and his eyes screwed shut, his entire body focused on the scorching wet heat of her wrapped around his cock, taking him, holding him, pulling him deeper into her. He bellowed as he felt the final few remnants of his control slip away under the power of her body and came, deep within her, his chest shaking as he finished his last few desperate thrusts.

He woke in the morning spooned around Nora, who was still asleep and naked. The sunlight crept up over the blankets and Henry wondered if Nora had positioned her bed so she could watch the glorious sunrise over the mountains every morning, rather than hide from the door of an empty house. It was Thanksgiving morning, and though he’d never celebrated it before, he knew he had a lot to be thankful for as Nora murmured in her sleep and moved against him. The sun continued its daily trek across the heavens as he kissed Nora and fell back asleep with his future cradled in his arms.


	11. Chapter 11

Henry scanned the faces at the park, looking for Nora in the crowd of people lining up for their annual Turkey Day Charity Fun Run. He spotted the group of little girls surrounding her before he saw her. He made his way over to them, smiling as he watched her interaction with her Brownies. Bibi was clutching Nora’s hand, half hidden behind her, Olivia was running around in circles making turkey noises, Elodie and Kiara were going through an elaborate stretching routine, and the other four girls were playing one of those hand-clapping games that seemed universal amongst girls that age. Nora was so caught up in keeping Olivia from careening into strangers that Isabella saw him before she did.

“Henry!”

He was swarmed by a stampede of little girls. He had gone running with them the week before to practice and they had besieged him with all sorts of questions as they had walked, jogged, ran, skipped, gamboled, twirled in circles, hopped up and down and walked backwards around the lake. They had made incredibly loud kissing noises when he had replied that yes, he was now Miss Nora’s boyfriend, and then they told him that she always turned pink when they asked her about him.

He had replied, “I think she’s very pretty when she turns pink.”

Henry knew better now how very beautiful she was when she turned pink. They had made love again this morning and watching the flush of her orgasm spread over her skin, laying the blush of a rose over her golden tan, was more beautiful than any sunrise. Their eyes met over the heads of the Brownies and they exchanged one of those smiles peculiar to couples in the early throes of love, sweet and passionate and obvious to everyone who sees it though the people involved think they are being discreet.

“You’re not wearing your cape!” Kiara wrenched his attention back to the group of girls standing around him, tugging on his track pants.

He squatted down to be on their eye level. “No, I’m not. I asked, and I’m not allowed to wear it unless I’m working on the movie. But,” he held up the bag in his hand, “I have something for you that I think might be even better.

He opened the bag and pulled out a purple cape with a butterfly embroidered on the back. “I think this is for Mai.” Out came cape after cape, each one a different color with a unique design embroidered on the back. He’d gotten in his own questions the previous week and had found out each girl’s favorite color and what she loved most in the world. Nora helped him tie the capes on each girl and they set off running and swirling and leaping up and down to make their capes flap.

She kissed him on his cheek and slipped her arm around his waist as they watched the cavorting children. “That was sweet of you.”

“I could barely keep track of them all last week when it was just us. I had to come up with something to be able to find them easier with all these people around.”

“Uhhuh.” She tapped his chin with her finger. “Not because you’re a giant softie and couldn’t bear to disappoint them when you didn’t wear your cape.”

“Do you know how ridiculous I would look if I showed up here in my Superman costume?”

“A little attention whore-y, yes.” She turned around. “Elodie, stop telling Tarryn that a mountain lion is going to eat her puppy.” Tarryn’s tangerine cape had a Boston terrier embroidered on the back.

Elodie’s big brown eyes were wide with innocence. “But, Miss Nora, it’s true! I saw it on the news. A mountain lion is eating cats and dogs around here!”

“Or, they’ve just gotten lost. And just because something is true doesn’t mean you have to say it. We only say nice things, remember?”

“Yes, Miss Nora.”  She scuffed her shoe against the grass, kicking up a clod of turf.

“Little daywalker,” she muttered as she turned back to Henry.

“What’s a daywalker?”

Nora giggled. “A slang term for a redhead – because they have no souls but can tolerate sunlight, unlike vampires.”

Henry laughed and wrapped both of his arms around her waist. “I can’t believe you called her that.”

“You hang out more with her, and that won’t be the only thing you call her. I’ve developed special Elodie hearing so I can always hear what she’s doing. It’s a survival mechanism.”

“Speaking of which, where is she now?”

Nora spun around, searching the crowd for red hair and a turquoise cape. “You go that way, I’ll go this way? We should really gather them all up anyway, it’s about to start.”

“Meet back here?”

She nodded and kissed him on the cheek. “Thank you for this.”

He started walking around the park, looking for brightly colored capes. A flash of turquoise and hot pink in one of the trees caught his attention and upon closer examination he saw Elodie and Chanel picking their way along one of the thick branches. He headed over to the tree to get them down when someone called his name.

“Mr. Cavill!”

He turned around to see a television reporter running over to him, camera man in tow. “Mr. Cavill, I was wondering if you would take a minute to talk to us, tell us about how you’re enjoying Thanksgiving here in our community.”

He looked at Chanel and Elodie who were now sitting on the thick branch, happily chattering away like little birds. “Just for a minute. I have to get back for the start of the race.”

She signaled the cameraman. “Hello, I’m Veronica Ross, with KCAL television and I’m here with the Man of Steel himself, Henry Cavill. Henry, tell me, are you enjoying your American Thanksgiving?”

“Yes. I’ve never celebrated one before but from what I’ve been told, it mostly involves eating and that’s a holiday I can fully support.”

Veronica laughed a little too loudly. “Are you getting ready to shoot the sequel to Man of Steel?”

“We’re in pre-production right now so I’m just gaining weight and putting the muscle back on for the role.” His eyes flickered to the girls in the tree. Chanel was standing up and holding on to the branch above her. What was she doing? Elodie was saying something to her, but he couldn’t hear what.

“Well, you’re certainly looking good already.”

He didn’t even hear the reporter as he realized just as Chanel squatted on the branch what was going to happen. He sprinted towards her, hoping he could get there before she hit the ground. She launched herself into the air, both arms out in front of her like she was going to take flight. Her scream rent the air as the look of exhilaration on her face turned to terror as it dawned on her that she was falling, hurtling towards the ground at a speed that promised multiple broken bones. Henry shoved a man aside and threw himself towards her, propelled forward by a burst of adrenaline that came from knowing there was no wire harness holding up the diamond embroidered cape and golden ringlets.

Henry, calling upon every second of his stunt training, snatched her from the air and rolled as they hit the ground, both of his arms wrapped protectively around her like the roll cage on a car. His shoulder throbbed from where it had hit the ground as he came to a rest sprawled on his back, but as he sat up, Chanel threw her arms around his neck. “Thank you, Henry!”

A scattering of applause broke out from the people who had seen the incident but Henry’s attention was focused on Chanel. “Why did you do that?”

“Elodie said the capes would make us fly.”

He checked her eyes, making sure she hadn’t hit her head. “You can’t fly, Chanel.”

“But  _you_  can when you have your cape on.”

He didn’t want to crush her dreams but he didn’t want her getting hurt either. “Well, that’s because I’m older.”

“How old do I have to be before I can fly?”

Her blue eyes were wide with excitement but he didn’t want to have to catch her anymore. “Forty.”

“Awwww.” She frowned and he helped her to her feet. He stood and brushed his hands against his thighs as he looked up into the tree. “Elodie, get down here.”

“Catch!” Elodie leaned forward and rolled off the branch and began plummeting to the ground.  

“Daywalker,” he muttered as he lurched forward and caught her. “Why did you tell Chanel she could fly?” He squatted in front of her and held both of her hands so she wouldn’t run away.

“Because you gave us the capes. That means we can fly like you.”

Henry was fairly certain she was lying to him but didn’t know how to call her on it, especially with a television camera on him. “No flying until you’re forty.”

“Excuse me, Henry,” Veronica burst in, “did you really give these girls their beautiful capes?”

“Yes.” He looked around to see if Nora was within eyeshot. He saw her running over, probably drawn to the commotion that she knew would be centered on Elodie.

“And how do you know them?” He could see the predatory glint in her smile. Thoughts of single mothers being seduced by the Man of Steel danced in her eyes.

“They’re part of my neighborhood Brownie troop.”

Her perfectly tweezed eyebrow rose. “ _You’re_  involved with the Brownies?”

“He’s dating Miss Nora!” Elodie piped up right as Nora arrived. “Her!” she pointed. “That’s Miss Nora.”

“Is this true?” She shoved the microphone in his face.

“I don’t think it’s any of your concern. We have a race to run.”

Nora grabbed Elodie’s hand and started tugging her away from the enraptured audience. Elodie yelled over her shoulder, “When they get married, I’m gonna be a flower girl!”

Henry watched the back of Nora’s neck take on a reddish tint as she hissed at Elodie to be quiet and continued to lead her away. “Come on, Chanel. Let’s go run.”

Chanel looked at the reporter as Henry led her away and once they were out of earshot she said, “Can I be a flower girl too?”

Henry rubbed his forehead in weary frustration. How was he supposed to answer that? It’s not like he could tell her no with Elodie announcing to the world that she was going to be one but he couldn’t really tell her yes either. “I don’t even know if Miss Nora and I are going to get married.” Which was technically true.

“But you like her, right?”

“Well, yes.”

She stopped in her tracks so he stopped as well. “Do you love her?”

“Yes.”

“Then you should marry her.” She nodded decisively and started walking again.

Henry gave up and nodded. “I’ll think about it.” That was technically true as well.

Nora had managed to round up the rest of the girls near the starting line and Elodie and Chanel joined their friends like nothing had happened. Henry grabbed Nora’s hand. “Are you alright?”

“What happened?”

Henry pulled at the neck of shirt, the vision of hot pink and curls falling through the air flashing before his eyes. “Elodie convinced Chanel that if she jumped out of the tree, her cape would let her fly. I caught her just before she hit the ground.”

Nora rubbed her face with both hands. “I’m going to have to talk to her parents again.”

“Remind me when we get home that I need to call my mother and apologize.”

Nora’s brows came together, causing lines to form between them. “For what?”

He closed his eyes and shook his head. “Everything I have ever done.”

Nora laughed. “It sounds like you were an actual superhero, though.” She rubbed the grass stain on his shoulder.”

“No. You’re the hero for doing this every week and not being dead or having killed any of them or let them kill each other.”

“They keep me young.”

Henry looked at the girls who were giggling together in a group, seemingly peaceful for the moment. “And you still want lots of kids after dealing with this on a weekly basis?”

“I’m telling myself it will be easier if they’re not all the same age.”

“And Chanel asked if she can be a flower girl too.”

She put a hand over her eyes for a minute and then parted her fingers enough to look at him with one eye. “What did you say?”

“That I didn’t even know if we were going to get married. She thinks we should. So I told her I’d think about it.”

The call of the run announcer calling everyone to the starting line saved Nora from having to reply. “Okay, come here girls. Remember, why are we running?”

“To help people!” they answered.

“And?”

“To have fun!” Several of them were bouncing up and down.

“That’s right.” She turned to Henry. “Do you want to go in front or bring up the rear?”

“You lead them. I’ll keep an eye out for stragglers. And if you say there’s a flash flood, I’ll just pick them up and run for high ground.”

She grinned and squeezed his hand. “You’re learning.”

Bibi quietly walked up to Nora and tugged on her hand. Nora leaned down and Bibi whispered in her ear. Nora looked at Henry with a smile and back at Bibi. “You’re going to have to ask  _him_ that question.”

Bibi’s eyes widened but she looked up at Henry. “Can I run with you today?”

“Of course.”

Her smile, which he’d never seen before, beamed at him and she slipped her little hand into his. Nora smiled and said, “I’ll see you two at the finish line.”

By the time they all got to the finish line, Henry had picked up a few more girls. Kiara was on one hand, Bibi on the other, and Olivia was riding on his shoulders, periodically yelling at her ‘horsey’ to, “Go faster!” as she pounded her feet against his chest. Nora met him with a kiss on the cheek which sent all the girls into paroxysms of squealing delight. He helped Olivia down and then wrapped an arm around her waist right as he saw the television camera pointed at them so he turned his body to block Nora from its view. He was definitely going to have to call his mother today, not just to apologize but to tell her he had a girlfriend before she saw it on the internet. He was positive that the footage of him catching Chanel was going to end up on the local news tonight and wished against all reasonable expectation that they would leave Nora out of it, but he knew that Nora was going to have to face that she was dating a celebrity eventually. He just hoped that he could shelter her from the negative side of it as much as possible.


	12. Chapter 12

Nora dribbled one more ladle of basting liquid over the turkey. Sage leaves were visible under the skin that was starting to turn gold, and the scent of lemon and garlic and butter filled the air before she closed the door on the rotisserie and let it continue cooking.

Henry took a deep breath as he looked around the outdoor kitchen. “If I open one of these metal doors, will I find a sushi chef?”

“I make my own sushi.”

“Of course you do.” He wrapped his arms around her and kissed the back of her neck. “What’s next on the schedule?” He had been helping her prepare for the last two hours.

“I was going to put together a tray of crudités. Guests should be arriving soon.”

“Do I have time to ring my mum? I want to talk to her before it gets too much later.”

“Sure.” She turned around to face him. “I’ve already cut everything, I just need to assemble it. This part’s just mindless prep work.”

“I’m going to stay out here, if you don’t mind. Enjoy the sunshine.”

“Of course.” She kissed him on his cheek. “When you’re done apologizing for everything you ever did, tell her I think she did an amazing job raising you.”

He tilted his head. “I thought I was a flawed diamond or a chunk of rock salt in your pudding.”

Nora froze for a moment before she looked down at the cobblestones under her feet. “I said those things because I like you. Because I love you.” She darted a glance up at him, her lashes still covering most of her eyes. “You’re a wonderful person. So wonderful that I find myself thinking about long term things. Things that wouldn’t bother me in a friend, but give me pause in someone who I might want to be more than a friend.” She glanced up at him again. “And you’re learning. I mean, it’s not like we’ve known each other really long or anything, and I do love you, Henry. I wasn’t trying to be mean, honest,” this time she held his gaze as he stroked her back. “I just want to go into this with my eyes open. My dad didn’t, and my mom left him after two years with a kid to raise on his own, and there’s some things I don’t want to repeat.”

Her eyelashes were fluttering like a hummingbird’s wings as her breath began to race. “Shhh, it’s alright.” He stroked her back slowly, trying to imbue her with calm. “We’re both finding our way with each other. That ‘I’ve seen bigger’ comment last night nearly made me leave until I realized you were kidding.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.” She touched his cheek, still hesitant to initiate many intimacies. “My sense of humor is so off base sometimes.”

Henry grinned and linked his fingers at the small of her back. “In general, telling a naked man that he’s too small isn’t going to come across as funny. Especially if he’s already told you he’s nervous.”

“Were you really nervous last night? You sure didn’t seem it.”

He shrugged like his skin was the wrong size and he was trying to get it to fit right. “This build is awkward for me. I don’t feel at home in my body when I’m this size, and uh, people tend to have expectations of Superman, you know?”

“I’m sorry, Henry. I didn’t meant to hurt you. And um,” she looked down and played with one of the buttons on his shirt, “you far and away surpassed my, uh, rather large expectations.”

He bent and kissed her, slowly standing as their mouths moved against each other until she was tilting her head up again. “And do you have any expectations for tonight?” he asked softly, his lips brushing against hers with the words.

A rosy sheen colored her cheeks. “Well, I thought maybe I could show you the location of the hidden hot tub.”

“We should cancel Thanksgiving and do that now.”

“Don’t tempt me. I’m still panicking about all this.”

He clasped her face in his hands and repeated the mantra he’d said so many times over the last few weeks. “Everything is going to be fine. You’re not going to drop the turkey on anyone, and the food will all be delicious.”

“But what if it’s not?”

“You made it; it’s going to be perfect. And, if by some small chance, something is less than perfect, you can blame that part on me.”

She smiled and rested her head against his shoulder. “You were more of a help than I thought you’d be today, both in the kitchen and with the girls.”

“My chest still hurts from Olivia spurring me on.”

“Well, maybe I’ll have to kiss it better later.”

He dropped a quick kiss on her nose, knowing that if he kissed her anywhere else that they would never finish preparing dinner. “I look forward to it.”

“You call your mom now. I’m going back inside.” She kissed the dimple in his chin before she went back into the house.

He rang his mum only to have the phone answered by his brother Charlie.

“What are you doing at home?”

“Just came over for dinner. What are you doing calling home on a Thursday? What is it, two in the afternoon or something? Did you hurt yourself?

Henry leaned back against the counter. “No, I did not hurt myself.”

“Then why are you calling home. You always call Mum and Dad on Sunday.”

“I wanted to tell Mum something before she might see it on the news.”

“You have a new woman or something?”

He ran a hand through his hair. He hated talking about anything personal with his brothers. “Actually yes to both.”

“Wow. Must be nice to be a movie star and have the women throwing themselves at you.”

Henry laughed. “It also helps that I got all the looks and charm.”

“Yeah, whatever.”

His eyes closed for a moment. “Do you ever think Mum regrets not having a daughter?”

“She got you, that’s pretty close.”

“You’re a regular comedian. Seriously though. Do you think things would have been different if we’d had a sister?”

There was a pause before Charlie answered. “Man, are you dating a single mother or something? Wait. Did you get someone pregnant?”

“No! Shut up. The girl I’m dating, woman actually, she has a troop of Brownies, uh, Junior Girl Guides, and I helped her out with them this morning, and everything I’ve ever been told about how girls are sweet and nice is totally wrong. I think Mum got off easy with us boys.”

Charlie started laughing. “Did you get beat up by a bunch of little girls?”

“Can I just talk to Mum?”

“She’s washing the dishes.”

“Well, go wash the dishes and let me talk to Mum.”

Nora called out to him. “Henry, come in the house.”

“I’m still on the phone.”

“Henry, flash flood. In the house.”

“Just a second.” He put his phone against his chest and hurried over to her. “What?”

Nora grabbed his arm and yanked him into the house and slammed the door shut. She flipped the lock shut and stepped back.

“What’s going on?”

She pointed at the rocky hillside above the terrace. “Look.”

Henry scanned the scrub and yucca covered terrain and his eyes stopped as he saw movement. He leaned closer to the glass. “Is that a cougar?”

“Yes.”

The large golden cat prowled closer to the terrace and paused, scenting the air before licking his white muzzle.

“Uh, tell Mum I’ll call her back. There’s a cougar outside and I think I need to call animal control.”

He ended the call and Nora put a hand on his arm. “Don’t call. He’s not hurting anyone.”

His brows rose as he stopped looking at the huge cat and turned to her. “Nora, there are people out there. Tarryn’s out there, not to mention her dog.”

“What are you looking at?”

They both turned around and Nora beckoned the two newcomers over. “Come look, there’s a mountain lion out on the hill.”

The two hurried over and looked out the glass doors. “Oh wow, that’s amazing,” the woman said, pushing her stick straight brown hair out of her face so she could see better.

“Henry, this is Jessica and her boyfriend David. Jessie and David, this is Henry.”

Henry smiled politely. Nora had warned him that Jessie was bringing the latest in a long line of strange boyfriends with her. “It’s nice to meet you.” Henry held out his hand and David shifted the tray of stuffed mushrooms he was holding to his other arm to take his hand. There were gothic letters tattooed across his knuckles but Henry couldn’t see them well enough to figure out what they spelled.

“Those look delicious. Did you make them?”

“Yes, I did. Gathered the mushrooms myself yesterday. Go ahead and try one.” He held out the tray.

Henry picked up one and had it half way to his mouth when Nora slapped his hand. “Don’t eat that.”

Henry laughed. “Trust me, I’ll still have room for dinner.”

“It’s toxic.”

Henry carefully put the mushroom back down on the tray and then wiped his hand against his jeans.

“They are not toxic,” David insisted. “They’re button mushrooms.”

“They sort of look like them, but don’t you smell that? It’s like Band-aids. Those aren’t button mushrooms, those are  _agaricus_.”

David scowled, his bushy eyebrows coming together into a hairy caterpillar. “How would you know?”

“She’s a chef. She knows food,” Henry answered.

“Did your fingers stain yellow after handling them?”

“Yeah, why?” His brow wrinkled as he looked at his fingers.

“Definitely an  _agaricus_. They stain. Buttons don’t do that.”

“So what happens if we eat them?”

“They’re nicknamed  _barficus_  for a reason.”

“Huh.” His jaw tightened as he swiveled on his heel. “Well, I guess into the trash they go.” He walked over to the kitchen and opened the cupboard under the sink as Jessie murmured, “You could have handled that better.”

“How? I couldn’t exactly let Henry eat one.”

“You could have,” her hand waved in the air as she thought, “taken the tray and said, ‘oh these are lovely’ and then put them somewhere and forgotten to bring them out with dinner.”

Nora tried not to roll her eyes. “I think he would have noticed. And it’s not like bringing a bottle of wine where I can say I’m saving it for a special occasion.”

“Still. You didn’t have to embarrass him like that.”

“Jessie, I love you, but I’m so tired of you protecting the crackhead weirdos you date. Seriously. You’re better than the men you date.”

Her mouth flattened into a sneer. “Yeah, like you have a lot of experience to be judging from.”

Nora looked from Jessie to Henry and back to her girlfriend. “Have you met Henry?”

“Fine. Be a recluse who manages to only talk to movie stars. I’m going to go find where my nice, normal, trying to be a good guest, boyfriend went.”

Nora scrubbed her palm against her forehead as Jessie stalked off. “I knew something was going to go wrong when she said she was bringing him.” She looked out the glass panes. “Oh no you don’t,” Nora muttered as she reached for the door handle.

Henry looked out the glass door to see the cougar had made its way onto the terrace and was sniffing at the oven. He grabbed Nora’s hand before she opened the door. “You’re not going out there.”

“He’s going to eat the turkey.” She tried to pull her hand free but he kept ahold of it.

“Then let him.”

Her eyes were frantic as she tried tugging her hand loose again. “But dinner will be ruined without a turkey.”

He let go of her but leaned against the door, keeping it shut. “Dinner will be ruined if you get hurt. Everyone will have fantastic stories to tell about the Thanksgiving that the cougar ate the turkey. You’ve made enough other food. There will be plenty to eat.”

“But the turkey is tradition. It’s the centerpiece. It won’t be Thanksgiving without the turkey.”

“It will be fine.” He held his hands out to her, palms up. She was ramping herself up into a panic attack and he didn’t know how to stop her from doing it.

“I’ll take my knife with me.”

“You are  _not_  going to go attack a cougar with a butcher knife, Nora.”

“But I have to save the turkey.” She gasped for breath and tried to push him out of her way. “It’s all going to be wrong. It’s going to be ruined, Henry.”

“No, it won’t. It won’t, darling. I promise.” He kept his voice low and soothing. He wished he could think of something more to do, but his brain was empty as he rifled through it for ideas.

He saw movement out of the corner of his eye and turned his head to the three strangers standing in the entry. “Is everything okay?” the man asked.

“No!” Nora looked at her new guests and then back to him. “Henry, please, let me go out there. I have to go out there.”

“I’m not going to let you.”

Her breath was coming in shallow gasps, and her hands had gone clammy. She rubbed them on her jeans. “I knew…I knew something…something would go wrong.”

“Are you alright, Nora?” The two new women bent over next to her but she flinched away from them as they tried to soothe her.

“No, she’s not.” Henry picked her up in his arms. “Someone call animal control to get that cougar off the terrace.” He carried her into the study and shut the door behind them and then sat in the big armchair with her cradled against his chest.

“It’s not Thanksgiving without a turkey.”

“Darling, you would get seriously hurt if not killed trying to rescue the turkey. It’s not worth it.”

The tears had started to roll down her cheeks. “You’re not American. You don’t understand.”

“Nora, I know you say I don’t listen to you when you say what you want and that I think I know better, but sometimes darling, you display an appalling lack of common sense. This isn’t a Disney movie and that cat is not going to sing a duet with you if you go out there and try and take away its dinner. I know you want to go rescue the turkey, but if I have a choice between protecting your wellbeing or that of an already dead turkey, I am going to choose you every time, without hesitation.”

She didn’t respond and he held her, his thumb stroking over her arm as her breathing slowly levelled out. He lost track of the time as he held her, just waiting until she felt well enough to talk again.

“I don’t want to disappoint people,” She whispered. “It’s Thanksgiving and there’s no turkey.”

“If you want I can call restaurants that are doing Thanksgiving dinners and see if I can buy a turkey for us.”

She looked up at him, her eyes red from crying. “You would do that?”

He smiled, lines forming at the edge of his eyes. “If it means putting a smile back on your face, of course.”

“I just wanted everything to be perfect.”

“It’s still going to be amazing, princess. And I am so proud of you for doing this at all. One panic attack for hosting Thanksgiving? I think that’s probably standard for people who don’t have anxiety problems. You’ve been handling all the stress really well.”

“Really?”

He brushed back the wisps of her hair that her clinging to her face. “Absolutely. You’re facing your fears and doing it really well. No one could have foreseen a cougar showing up to dinner.”

She sniffed and sat up. “Should we go see what everyone’s up to?”

Henry nodded and she held his hand as they rejoined her guests. Seven more people had showed up and everyone, except for David who was sitting on the sofa, was standing by the French doors and the windows, watching the activity on the terrace. She had invited her entire kayaking group and they were all here, tan and sunbleached like Nora herself. She had said that all her chef friends were cooking today, so she’d have to introduce him to them later.

“Sorry guys,” Nora said. “I think we’re going to be missing out on the turkey this year. It seems to have attracted another dinner guest.”

Everyone turned and looked at her. “Dude, this is better than turkey. He’s trying to figure out how to open the oven. It’s better than all those nature shows on the television.”

Several people nodded. “Best Thanksgiving ever. So much more interesting than football.”

Nora’s eyebrows climbed to her hairline.“So you’re not upset?”

Several people laughed. “Oh, Nora, you know us. We can last days on protein bars and water filtered from a dirty stream.”

“Are the pies in the house?” asked one man who was almost Henry’s size, but with red hair and a short beard.

Nora nodded. “They’re in here.”

“And the beer?” he continued.

Nora laughed. “Yes, Alex, the beer is in the house.”

“Then we’re good. Never really cared for turkey anyway.” He went back to staring out the window.

There was a loud snarl from outside and one of the guys cheered. “He got the oven open!”

Everyone turned back to the windows. “Now can he get the turkey out without burning himself?” one of the girls asked.

One of the women came over and hugged Nora. “That was a shorter one. You up to having us all here still or should I make everyone go home?”

Nora looked up at Henry who squeezed her hand. She turned back to the woman. “I’m fine, Marianne.” She took a breath and looked back up at Henry. “I’m going to be just fine.”


	13. Chapter 13

Henry stood on the wide stone railing and peered at the dark water fifteen feet below him and then looked at Nora who was standing next to him. “You’re sure about this?”

The thin strap of her swimsuit across her shoulder was almost the same color as her skin. She had gotten to the bridge before he had and walking up the hill to join her, he’d actually thought the tankini was strapless. He supposed that wouldn’t have been the most sensible choice for diving though. She shook her head. “Actually it’s an elaborate prank meant to cripple you so I can lock you up in one of my towers and keep you just for myself forever and ever.”

Sometimes her deadpan sense of humor bordered on the macabre. It was one of her quirks that he usually loved the most because he never knew what she was going to say next, but right now he could have used a little reassurance. His toes curled over the edge of the railing and he wiped his hands on his board shorts. “Well thank you for that uniquely disturbing thought and remind me never to let you watch  _Misery_.”

“Do you want me to jump first?”

He always looked over the edge of the bridge every time he walked across it and what Nora insisted was an actual swimming pool looked to him like a large pond in a jungle, overhung with trees that shaded the dark water. He still was half convinced it was just a swamp down there and she was talking him into jumping into a pool full of frogs and weeds. “Actually, yes.”

She giggled. “Very well.” She bent her knees and then pushed off into a flawless swan dive, slicing through the water with almost no splash. She had obviously done this before. She surfaced and shoved her wet hair back out of her face. “Come on in, the water’s fine,” she called up to him.

He shook his head before he took a deep breath and jumped. There was no way he was going to equal Nora’s dive so he just tucked his knees to his chest and wrapped his arms around them and plummeted. He bobbed to the surface to find Nora spluttering and wiping the water from her face.

“Warn a girl when you’re going to do that.”

He swam over to her and wrapped an arm around her waist. “Sorry about that.”

She splashed a handful of water at him. “No you’re not.”

He swam them over a few more feet so he could put his feet down and then put his arms around her bridal style. “So, my lovely Nora, good day?”

Her laughter sounded tired. “Oh god, it could have been so much worse.”

“People seemed to really enjoy themselves. I think next year you’re going to have to get a bear to show up.”

“I’m just glad the animal control people aren’t going to have to kill him. Poor baby was just hungry.”

The water rippled around them from Henry’s laughter. “You weren’t calling him a poor baby when he was eating your turkey.”

“Yes, well,” she laughed and rested her head on his shoulder, “everything turned out all right in the end.” She sighed and relaxed into him and they floated together for a few minutes.

“Tired?” Henry asked. He was tired and being around people was easy for him to deal with. He couldn’t even imagine how exhausted she must be.

“A bit. Being around a lot of people, even people I like, tires me out some time.”

“We could have waited until another day for you to show me the pool, love.”

Her giggle rang out over the water. “No, the look of fear on your face as you stood on the bridge was totally worth it.”

“I wasn’t afraid.”

“Mmmm, right.” She kissed his throat. “Now put me down so I can swim.”

He reluctantly released her and she dove under the dark water. The low lights around the edge of the pool did almost nothing to illuminate anything beyond the ripples of the surface and he waited for her to surface.

And he waited.

“Nora?” he finally called, as he felt around in the water.

“Behind the waterfall.” Her voice echoed like she was in a cave. He swam towards the cascade and then dove under, only to find upon surfacing that he was facing an opening in the cliff face. Bracing his hands on the rock ledge, he pulled himself out of the water and then stepped forward into the glowing cavern. Nora was sitting in a hot tub sunk into the rock. The ceiling of the cave shimmered in the dim lighting, resembling a field of stars.  

“Another example of your parents having more money than sense?” He stepped down into hot bubbling water and moaned as the hot water covered his sore chest and shoulder as he sank onto the bench next to Nora.

“Yes, but isn’t it lovely? It’s like the rest of the world doesn’t exist.” They rested their heads against the curved edge of the rock and stared at the sparkling ceiling as their feet floated and bumped against each other.

“It’s nice. I could stand to be in here with just you for a week or two. No cougars, no reporters–,”

“No food,” Nora interjected.

“Mmm, there is that problem. Though I think I ate enough today to give me a cushion for at least two or three days.” He rubbed his hand over his stomach. He was now fully a fan of American Thanksgiving.

“There’s still more pie.”

He rolled his head to the side so his nose was almost brushing against her cheek. “Are you trying to kick me out of your hot tub?”

She smiled and her cheek brushed against him. “No.” She worried her bottom lip with her teeth for a moment. “But,” her voice could barely be heard over the jets frothing the water when she spoke again, “I was just thinking that my bed would probably be more comfortable to sleep in tonight than this hot tub.”

“Ah.” That answered the question he had been wondering about for the last few hours.

“It’s also closer to the pie,” she added quickly and Henry was positive that the flush of color on her cheeks wasn’t just because of the hot water.

“That was the best pie I’ve ever tasted. I won’t say that in front of my mum, but seriously, I could live on just your pies.”

“Well, I’m glad you have the good sense to not tell your mom that.”

He reached under the water and found her hand and linked his fingers through hers. “Speaking of mothers, I managed to get a call in to her today, after they tranquilized the cougar but before Jessie and David broke-up.”

Nora rubbed her hand over her face like she was trying to rid her skin of something unpleasant that had been sprayed on it. Henry had been impressed with Nora’s patience in consoling her heartbroken friend. “That’s good. Was she under siege by wild animals as well?”

“No. but I told her about you.”

Nora bolted upright. “You did?”

“Yes.”

“Why?” Her interrogative echoed in the cave.

“Because I love you and I don’t make it a habit to hide important things from my parents, and you’re very important to me.”

She relaxed a small degree. “Well, I guess that makes sense. What did she say? Does she hate me?”

“Why would she hate you?”

“I don’t know. Aren’t mothers supposed to hate the girls their sons date?”

Henry wondered what experience in her past had given her that impression. “No. She said she’d like to meet you.”

Nora snorted and rested her head on the edge of the hot tub again. “Yeah, well that’s not happening any time soon.”

“Oh.”

Nora sat back up and turned to Henry. “I mean. It’s not. Right?”

“Well, I was thinking about asking you if you wanted to go to Jersey for Christmas.”

Nora stood up and stepped onto the edge of the hot tub to climb out.

Henry brushed his hand against her calf. He wanted to grab her but was afraid of making her slip on the damp stone. “Please don’t. You don’t have to go. Forget I brought it up.”

“I can’t!” She shoved her wet hair out of her face as she looked down at him. “I can’t forget that you brought it up. You asked me to go home with you for the holidays. That’s a pretty big deal.”

“ _You’re_  a pretty big deal and I don’t want to be away from you if I don’t have to and if you don’t have other plans for Christmas, because you might, I don’t know, we haven’t talked about it at all, I was thinking it would be nice to spend Christmas with you.”

“And your family.”

Henry nodded. “Yes, my family will be there.”

“And you have four brothers.”

“Yes.”

“And they have girlfriends.”

“Or wives, yes.”

“And they will be there as well.”

Henry grinned. “I’m fairly certain that they will bring their wives with them for Christmas, yes.”

“So that’s like ten other people.”

“And some nephews.”

She threw her hands up in exasperation. “Does your family only make Y sperm or something?”

Her ability to get sidetracked boded well for her not going into a full blown panic attack. “I could look into that for you.”

She stuck her tongue out at him and then took a deep breath. “Alright. Well, kids I’m okay with. So, ten other adults that I’ve never met, and the most stressful holiday of the year, on another continent.”

“And me.”

She took a deep breath and let it out as she looked at him. He smiled at her, that lopsided grin that made his cheeks all round and cute and she found herself smiling back. “And you.” Nora sank back into the water. “God, if our children get your smile they are going to get away with murder.”

“Come here, love.”

He reached towards her and she took his hand and before settling herself on his lap, straddling his thighs.

“Ooh, you’re feeling friendly.” He settled his hands on her hips.

“Yes, well, I thought if I find holding your hand calming, additional skin to skin contact might help while we talk about this idea of me going to Jersey with you.”

“Well then, let me add a little bit more contact.” He pressed his hands under the back of her tank and spread his fingers across her skin. She wriggled closer to him and rested her hands on his chest.

“So. Jersey.”

“Yes.”

Nora found herself stroking Henry’s chest and drawing patterns in the damp hair that covered it. Maybe he had been right when he called it her security blanket. “That means we would fly to London or Paris or somewhere like that and catch a connecting flight.”

“Yes.”

“Could we fly first class so I have a bit more room on the plane?” Her eyebrows lifted in question as she looked at him.

As if he would ever tell her no when it came to her comfort and peace. “Of course.”

“And we’d be flying together so that if something happened, like we missed a connection, you could help me get things sorted out if I start panicking.”

She wasn’t looking at him as she went through the steps but he reassured her anyway. “We’ll be together the whole time.”

She nodded. “So that gets us to Jersey. And then I would meet your family.”

“Right.”

 “And you’re not just going to drop me off and then leave.”

Henry tipped her face up so she was looking at him. His forehead was creased in concern. “Do you really think I would do that?”

She shook her head frantically. “Oh no! This is just me walking myself through what would happen so I can prepare and reminding myself that I’m not going to be by myself.” She worried her lip with her teeth again. “I learned it from the book I’m reading.”

Henry’s head tilted as he looked at her. He could practically see the effort she was exerting to keep meeting his gaze. “Which book?”

“I bought a book about living with an anxiety disorder and it teaches coping mechanisms and things like that. I thought that it I’m actually going to be part of your life that I’m going to have to get better than I am now at meeting new people and going to events and things. I may never feel totally comfortable with it, but I hope I can get better than I am now.”

There was only the sound of the water bubbling for several long seconds before Henry managed to respond. “I don’t know what to say. That’s wonderful. Honestly, it sort of makes me feel like crying that you’re doing this.”

“You called me a sheltered princess.” Henry opened his mouth and Nora put her fingers against it. “You were right. I’ve always had someone there to shield me from having to get better. And I know you will protect me as much as you can, but um,” her eyes fell to his chest, “you’re also my reason for getting better. I want to be part of more of your life than I can where I am right now. Who I am right now.”

He again lifted her face to his and kissed her. “You have no idea what this means to me, Nora.”

“I have an appointment with my doctor to finally go on medication for my anxiety. I’ve always resisted it because I was content with my life and I just didn’t do anything that was going to trigger an attack but I don’t think content is enough anymore.”

“What do you want out of life now?”

She was silent for several minutes as she thought and Henry stroked her back slowly, watching her struggle to find the words to describe the change she was seeking. Finally, she said, “To be as brave about approaching a person I don’t know as a cliff I’ve never scaled. Asking you to dinner was literally the bravest thing I’ve done in years, and look how well that turned out. And I know that it seems sad that asking you to dinner counts as brave, but it was, and,” again her cheeks colored brighter than could be accounted for by the water, “you know, for some reason I keep thinking about my someday kids and how to raise them and I keep coming back to the thought that I would be sad for my daughter if she lived as limited a life as I live.” She smiled at him, but it was tinged with melancholy.

“My first impulse is to come up with a whole list of things you could do but I’m not going to push. You’ll do this at your own pace. Just let me know what I can do to help.” He kissed her again and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her closer.

She rested her head against his shoulder. “You help so much just by being here. I had a panic attack the second time you came over and you didn’t run away. You probably don’t understand how rare that is. Everyone in my kayaking group I’ve known for over a decade, or they dated into the group, and some of them are still uncomfortable when I start panicking. But you barely knew me. And you stayed.”

He combed his fingers through her wet hair as it floated on the surface of the water. “I will be honest. I wouldn’t have always done that. But I didn’t want to be the guy who ran away when things didn’t go perfect anymore.”

She looked up at him and he could see the ghosts of old fears haunting her face. “So, are you sticking around now just to prove that you can?”

“No. Now I’m sticking around because I’ve fallen madly in love with the girl who can outrun flash floods and make amazing pie and who still sometimes has difficulty looking me in the eyes when I tell her I love her.”

Her smile lit up her eyes as they flicked down and then back up to meet his gaze. “I’m not used to it yet.  It’s been a really long time since someone’s told me they loved me. And when you say it, I don’t just hear it. I feel it. It’s like the goose bumps you get when you hear beautiful music or you watch the sunrise from the top of a mountain. But more intense than that. Five hundred times more intense than that.”

“I hope it always feels like that.”

“Me too. I just need to strengthen my Henry love muscles.” Her hands flew to her face as her eyes froze wide open before she began to laugh. “That sounded naughty.”

He chuckled and his hands made their way to the hem of her tank. “Now this is something I can definitely help with.”

“Which part, the ‘I love you’ part or the love muscles part?” She lifted her arms and he pulled off the stretchy fabric and tossed it aside.

“Both.”


	14. Chapter 14

Nora stood barefoot in her kitchen as she nursed her morning cup of coffee. The light was grey, early morning sunshine not able to penetrate through the low layer of clouds outside. She took another sip and smiled against the rim of the mug at the thought of the gorgeous man still asleep in her bed. Yesterday had been long and eventful, but spending the evening with Henry in the hot tub had been a perfect way to end it. Of course, it hadn’t ended in the hot tub. A daring streak up the path to the house without getting caught had ended with them falling into bed together and making love before they had fallen asleep wrapped up in each other’s arms.

She heard him coming down the hall and turned to see him pad into the kitchen, barefoot like her, but where she was wearing a huge t-shirt with the collar band cut out, he was wearing his swim shorts from the night before.

“You going swimming this early?

“This is actually the only thing I have to wear since I changed at my house.”

Her eyes laughed at him over the rim of her mug. “That’s going to be a fun walk of shame for you this morning, then.”

“Well, it doesn’t have to be this morning, does it?” He nuzzled her neck and Nora set down her cup of coffee before it splashed onto his skin.

“Insatiable, aren’t you?” She threaded her fingers through his hair and tilted her head so that he could get that spot right at the crook of her neck.

“I’m not hearing any complaints.”

“You keep doing that and what you’re gonna hear isn’t gonna be complaining.”

Henry sucked gently at the bend of her throat as he grabbed her butt and pulled her against him. He slowly kissed his way up her neck before he finally nipped at her jaw, brushed his nose against hers, and then kissed her mouth. “Good morning, darling.”

“Good morning to you. Would you like some coffee?”

He shook his head and kissed her again. “I would like  _you_  to come back to bed. We both have the day off and neither one of us have to go anywhere.”

“Are you not a morning person, Henry?”

“I don’t have any problem getting up when I have to. But we don’t have to. And there are things I want to do with you in that bed that I haven’t gotten to do yet.”

The tip of her tongue caught between her teeth as she giggled.  “Oh really?”

“Yes, very much really.” He slid his hands under the hem of her shirt and clasped her bum again. One eyebrow rose. “You’re not wearing anything under this.”

Nora giggled again and rested her head against Henry’s shoulder. The heat from the blood rushing to her cheeks radiated against his neck.

He tried to peer down at her but she kept her face tucked under his chin. “Do you often go around sans knickers or is this a special occasion?”

“I actually really like being naked when I’m by myself,” she confessed.

He twined his fingers through her hair, playing with the long loose waves. “You do?”

“Yeah. Like, my clothing protects me from everything outside, from people, it’s a way of hiding. But when I’m home, I don’t have to hide from myself. It’s freeing.”

“Don’t let me stop you.”

Nora laughed and kissed the corner of his jaw. “It’s going to take me a bit longer to get comfortable enough to run around naked in front of you.”

His hand that wasn’t tangled in her hair stroked over her warm back. “You are gorgeous naked.”

“That may be, but there’s a difference between being actively naked with you and passively naked around you.”

“Well then, let’s be actively naked together.” His hands closed over her waist and squeezed as his thumbs stroked repeatedly over her stomach. He leaned in to kiss her and she went up on her toes to meet him. Their smiles brushed against each other before they kissed and her hands couldn’t decide whether they wanted to be on his chest or in his hair, instead stroking over exposed skin in lazy laps. His fingers tightened on her waist as flirting gave way to lust and he lifted her to set her on the counter only to find her arching away from the surface like a cat trying to avoid a tub full of water, her fingernails clawing his back.

“Bare bottoms do  _not_  go on counters!”

Henry laughed at her extreme outrage and wrapped her in a more secure embrace as he started walking towards her bedroom. He found himself wobbling like a drunken toddler, finding it difficult to keep a steady pace with her legs wrapped around his waist and the feel of her warm bare skin rubbing against him with every step. They only ran into the wall once and that was because Nora started to suck on his tongue with a slow pulsing rhythm that prophesied of future activities to be fulfilled. He managed to get them into her bedroom without too much damage and bypassed her bed for the bathroom. He reached out one hand to start the water in the shower, his other hand tightening on her rear to keep her steady as she clung to him. He didn’t want to put her down, not now, not ever, and he rested her back against the wall as he waited for the water to warm. He grasped her breast through her top, squeezing and kneading it as his mouth found hers again.

Nora stripped off her top, wanting to feel the warm coarse touch of his hands on her skin. The tile was cold on her back when she leaned against it, but Henry’s mouth quickly distracted her from the momentary chill. One of his hands closed over her breast before he played with her nipple, rolling his fingers over it. He continued to kiss her, a slow and needy feasting on her lips and the gentle sounds that spilled from her like wine. Her body contorted as she reached around her legs and shoved at the waistband of his shorts. She wanted him naked and she wanted him naked now.

Henry pressed against her, holding her in place with his chest as he tugged down his shorts. He was a bit surprised at her enthusiasm, but apparently she really didn’t have a problem with active nakedness. He knew that her willingness to be vulnerable with him was a gift she rarely gave to anyone and he treasured the trust she had in him. The memory of her riding him last night, her breasts filling his hands as her head fell back on a cry of pleasure flashed through him and his already stiffening cock swelled with a sudden rush of desire.

Henry kicked off his shorts as he stepped into the shower and Nora closed her eyes as the warm water cascaded over them.  His cock rubbed against her bottom as they kissed, the water stripping away the faint lingering scent of chlorine and leaving their skin slick as they moved against each other. Nora moaned as he pressed her up against the side of the shower and sucked her breast into his mouth. Her fingers curled into his wet hair, shoving it back from his forehead so she could watch him devour her.

She pushed her hips forward, pressing against Henry, grinding against him. Every time they made love it just made her want him more. It didn’t surprise her that she wanted to lock him in her bedroom and never let him out; she’d always had a healthy sex drive. What shook her was the emotional intensity with which she wanted him.  His smile was like sunshine, and the simple feel of him holding her hand calmed her better than a Xanax.

Right now his hand was not calming her, though. He gripped her hips and let her slide down the wall just enough where he could press the head of his cock against her pussy. Their eyes locked as he pushed slowly inside her. Nora ran her fingers over the taut muscles in his shoulders and throat as he fought to take her slowly, to let her gradually adjust, to prolong the pleasure of the feel of her giving way to him, to his cock, to his claim on her body.

Her shoulders slid against the slick tile as he began to thrust into her and she lifted her hips, pressing outward from the wall so she could take him deeper.  There wasn’t any need for speech as their bodies made all their wants known. His fingers skated over her back, searching for a perfect handhold to keep her body arched and wanting, drawn taut and feeding the tension in her belly. Nora watched his reflection in the mirror, the clench of his ass and the way his thighs rippled with every drive of his body into hers, the flex of his back as her hands skidded over muscle.

Her legs tightened around him as one of his hands slid from her back to her stomach and his thumb brushed against her clit. The thud of her head falling back against the tile was almost completely swallowed by the sound of her moan.  Henry licked the spray of water from the soft skin under her jaw, letting his lips trace the drops as they ran down her throat and into the valley between her breasts. His thumb continued its dance over her clit as he sucked her breast into his mouth again, feeling it bob against his tongue with every thrust of his cock.

Nora’s fingers scrabbled over his back, seeking for a point to anchor her against the force of his body and the relentless pull of her own want. He was a riptide, pulling her inevitably further and further from her body and into the profoundness of his embrace, letting her swim in the deeps of her passion like a mermaid.

She cried his name, grabbed his hair, drove her heels into his ass and clamped her thighs around his waist. She cried it again, choking out the syllables against her lungs gasping for air trying to suck them back in. One more touch of his thumb, the scrape of his teeth, the thrust of his body, and her voice went silent, her body screaming everything that could possibly be communicated as she trembled and quaked in his arms. A few more thrusts and his cry of her name echoed back from the tiles as he held her and emptied his need for her into her body.

They were toweling each other off when his hands stopped moving. “Shit,” he whispered.

Nora looked up at him. “What?”

He ran his hand through his wet hair. “I forgot to use a condom.”


	15. Chapter 15

Nora didn’t blink. She didn’t breathe. She just stared at him, completely non-responsive to the words he had said.

And then she ran for the shower.

It took her less than a second to flip the water back on. Henry didn’t know what to do as she yanked the shower head from its holder and shoved it between her thighs. Her shoulders trembled and she rested her head against the tiled wall as the water streamed down her legs.

Henry decided to let her be for a few moments and finished drying off and pulled his shorts back on and then leaned against the counter to wait. He stared at his feet as he mentally chastised himself for his oversight. He’d  _never_ forgotten a condom before. Wrapping the willy was something that had been drilled into from the time he had hit puberty and he had always lived up to his responsibility. What would happen if she actually got pregnant? He had no idea where in her cycle she was, but he knew his shooting schedule for the next year was going to be intense with Superman and that was without worrying about a baby. And yet.

He couldn’t be completely honest with himself and not admit that a little part of him thought that Nora being pregnant might not be the worst thing in the world after all. He loved her. She loved him. They wanted the same things out of life. With his career there would never be a  _right_  time to start a family. Obviously this wasn’t the ideal way to do it, but if Nora decided to take a wait and see attitude to what had just happened, rather than use emergency contraception, he would be able to support that decision. Really, he just wanted to make sure Nora was alright more than anything.

He looked up as the water turned off. Nora’s hand shook as she placed the shower head back in its holder and then she squeezed the water from her hair. Henry picked up a towel and held it open for her. He wasn’t sure if she would accept it from him but she walked into it and he wrapped the heavy purple terry around her. She plucked the fabric from him and tucked the corner in between her breasts to hold it in place and left the bathroom without talking. He followed after her and she sat on the small loveseat in her bedroom and patted the cushion next to her.

He couldn’t sit down yet. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s not all your fault. I should have been paying attention too.”

He took the seat next to her and softly kissed her temple.

Nora took a shaky breath and shoved her wet hair out of her face. “I’m on day twenty. I’m normally every twenty-eight to thirty-one days, so we should be alright, but there’s a slight chance something could have happened.”

Henry nodded. “Should we get something just to be safe?”

“Like Plan B?”

“Yeah.”

Nora spread her hand over her stomach. “I know I should. Like, I  _know_  that, but there’s this little voice in my head saying I’m killing a baby and I know that’s not what Plan B is, and I know it’s just birth control and it’s not an abortion but like, I went to a super-fundamentalist Christian church for years and I can’t get that little voice out of my head saying that I should keep the baby because I may be a sinner but killing an innocent child just makes it worse.”

Henry sat back against the arm of the small sofa. He tried to keep the surprise off of his face. He had known that she had spent several years attending a conservative church, but that type of thinking was incredibly foreign to him. Literally. He didn’t know anyone from Jersey who thought that way. Still, it was his job to be supportive right now and that he could do. “Nora, I love you, and I will support whatever decision you make.”

“But like, we’ve known each other six weeks! I mean, it doesn’t feel like it’s only been six weeks, but it’s only been six weeks! And what if I get pregnant now? That means we have a baby.  We’ll have a baby before we’ve been together for a year. And that’s insane.  _Insane._ Like, no. And you’re going to be gone shooting and I’d be all pregnant by myself, and then like, what happens if I go into labor and you’re all in Detroit or Vancouver or wherever it is you’re filming.” Her voice rose in decibel and pitch and her eyes got increasingly wider the more she discussed her worries. “Like, are you allowed to take time off for that? Are you going to be there? Or is it like I’m crossing my legs and holding it until you manage to fly in? Because I don’t think it works that way.”

“ _If_  you decide to wait and see, and  _if_  you get pregnant, we’ll have plenty of time to figure out how to make it work.”

She shook her head and started pulling at a loose thread on her towel. “What do you want me to do?”

“If you’re pregnant, I will love you and the baby, and support both of you however you think is best.”

She looked at him out of the corner of her eyes. “But do you want me to be pregnant? Like, does the thought of it actually happening make you happy?”

“Is this the best possible time for you to get pregnant? No. For a lot of reasons. We haven’t known each other that long. We’re not married. My schedule. We’re not really stable and settled as a couple yet. We still love in separate houses. But on the other hand, it’s not the worst possible time either. Realistically, we should go get some Plan B. That’s the rational thing to do here. But if that’s going to make you feel guilty or worry about what might have been, I don’t want that either.”

She huffed out a sarcastic laugh. “Versus the guilt of trapping you for the rest of your life with a child you weren’t ready for and a partner you barely knew?”

Henry leaned forward and held her face in his hands. “You are not a trap, darling. No matter what happens, you are  _not_  allowed to think of yourself like that.”

Nora stared at him for a while, her eyes flickering over his face, trying to find a reason to believe him. Apparently, she found what she was looking for because she nodded. “So whatever I choose then?” she asked softly.

“I don’t think it’s my place to make this decision for you. We probably should use Plan B, but if you don’t want to, for whatever reason, we’ll make the best out of whatever happens together.”

She sighed and closed her eyes. “Will you hold me?”

Henry pulled her into his lap and simply wrapped his arms around her, not knowing what to say. She wasn’t shaking and her body was too relaxed for her to be having a panic attack. Her fingers were wrapped around his forearm, but other than that, she wasn’t seeking anything from him. It felt like she was just thinking. All he could do was provide her comfort with his presence so that is what he did.

After a few minutes Nora whispered, “Amen,” and then sighed. She made a motion to get off of Henry’s lap and he helped her stand as she clutched at the towel. “Why don’t you go home and change while I go to the pharmacy?”

Henry stood up and rested his hands awkwardly on his hips. “You don’t want me to come with you?”

“No. The last thing you need is to someone to get a photo of you buying Plan B.”

“I don’t care if I get photographed. If you want me to come with you, I’ll be there.”

She smiled but shook her head. “No. I think I would like to be alone for a bit anyway. But once you’re changed come back over. I’ll make breakfast or something. And I’ll call my doctor about going on the pill or something like that when I’m back.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah.” She pulled up the front of the towel and stared at the floor between them. “Um, do I need to talk to my doc about getting tested for anything? Was the condom just for birth control?”

“I’m clean. I would have told you if I wasn’t.”

“I thought so. I just thought I’d make sure.” She rubbed her forehead. “Alright. I’m going to get dressed now.”

Henry kissed her on top of her head. “I’ll be here when you get back.” He walked to the bedroom door and stopped to look at her before he exited.

Nora smiled wanly. “If you want to bring a change of clothes or two to leave here, you can. I can find you a drawer somewhere, I’m sure. No more walks of shame.”

“I love you, Nora.”

“I know.”

When Nora came back home, she smelled bacon cooking. Henry was standing barefoot in her kitchen, a comically small apron over his shirt and jeans. “That smells good.”

“I thought I would risk your wrath and cook in your kitchen.”

She looked over what he’d done. The bacon was cooking on the griddle and he had made a batch of pancake batter.  A bowl of orange wedges sat close-by. “It looks perfect.”

“Are you alright?”

She held up the cloth bag in her hand. “Got what I needed.” She dumped the contents out on the counter. Cardboard boxes dully clattered as they hit the surface and a bottle of Midol rolled to a slow stop against a box of tampons. “Box of condoms for the hot tub,” she set one aside, “another box for the bathroom, one for the living room, a couple for the bedroom, and here,” she handed him three boxes, “I got you some for your house too.”

“Thank you.”  He smiled as she opened the fridge and he placed the boxes next to the stove and flipped the bacon over. There were still several unassigned boxes of condoms still spilled across the counter and he couldn’t help but wonder if there were any left at the store. Whatever helped her feel better though.

Nora didn’t speak but just opened a bottle of beer. Metal grated on glass and the fizz of escaping bubbles joined the sound of frying bacon.  She took a long swallow and then set the bottle down on a cork coaster and picked up the Plan B box and opened it. Henry watched her as he tended the bacon, not having any idea of what to say. She pushed the pill through the foil backing and stared at it. It sat in the palm of her hand, a simple white tablet, and she didn’t move.

“You don’t have to, Nora. If you don’t want to, you don’t have to and I will love you no matter what happens.”

She didn’t look at him, still focused on the pill. “No. This is the right thing to do. I know that. It’s just, it feels like a bigger deal than just taking a birth control pill, you know?”

Henry crossed the kitchen and wrapped his arms around her waist. She leaned back against his chest and he kissed her temple. “I know.”

Her shoulders rose and sank as she took a deep breath. She popped the pill into her mouth and washed it down with her beer and then she turned in the circle of Henry’s arms and began to cry.

Henry paused long enough to turn off the heat on the stove and then picked her up. “Come on, let’s go back to bed. We’ve gone through way too much today for it only to be half past nine.”

She nodded against his chest and when they were both lying down she curled up against him. “Will you take off your shirt so I can have my security blanket?”

Henry wordlessly pulled off his shirt and tossed it aside. Nora rested her head against his chest so she could hear his heart beating and he rested his hand over hers. Her tears slowly ceased and her eyes drifted shut, and right before she fell asleep, she whispered, “Someday.”

He kissed her on the top of her head again. “Someday.”


	16. Chapter 16

Henry carefully reclined the chair, taking care not to disturb Nora as she slept curled into his side. Apparently the film hadn’t been exciting enough to overcome her tiredness and aches. This had been the first time in her life, she had confessed to him, that she had been grateful for cramps because they soothed the worries that had plagued her for the last six days. He smoothed her hair back from her face, long gold -brushed strands that clung to her warm cheeks.

Nora shifted at his touch and rubbed her face against his chest, her nose wrinkling as she wiped the back of her hand against her cheek. She nestled into Henry before she settled back into a peaceful sleep. Her leg was hooked over his and his hand rested on the curve of her hip as he watched the rest of the film.

When he stopped to think about it, it seemed strange how natural this was. They’d known each other not even two months yet, and having her falling asleep on him at the end of a long day seemed like the most quotidian thing ever, even though it was still sublime in its newness. Maybe their relationship had advanced so fast because they were able to spend time together every day, maybe it was almost dying together that had made them sort out their priorities so fast, maybe they were just right for each other, but nothing in his history compared to the way he felt when she smiled at him. She was like sunshine. He turned the telly off when the film finished, leaving the room illuminated by just the dim glow of the power buttons on the electronics and carefully brought his seat into an upright position so as not to disturb her. He hooked his arms under Nora’s knees and picked her up and had made it halfway up the stairs to his room when she woke up and rubbed her hand across her face, wiping away the little bit of drool that had gathered in the corner of her mouth.

“You can let me walk.”

He smiled down at her bleary-eyed face. There were a few red marks creasing her face from where it had pressed against his shirt. “Why would I want to do something like that?”

“Because you do enough weightlifting in the gym?”

He pushed open the bedroom door with his shoulder. “You barely even count.”

She yawned and stretched. “That’s a good thing to say to your PMSing girlfriend.”

“I think I’ve got some chocolate ice cream in the freezer too.”

She wrapped her arms around him as he lowered her to the bed so he couldn’t rise back up. “You’re not a superhero, you’re a god.” She pulled him down further so she could kiss him.

Henry gave her a crooked smile. “You know what I’ve heard works really well to alleviate menstrual cramps?”

“What?”

He climbed on the bed so he was kneeling over her. “Orgasm.”

Her head rolled back on the pillows as she laughed. “You think you can help with that?”

“Mmmmm, I think I can.” His lips drifted across her neck.

“You are so solicitous of my needs.”

He pulled the collar of her shirt aside so he could continue his trek across her tanned skin. “It’s because I love you.”

“I know. It’s been a crazy few months but it’s definitely made that obvious,” she laughed.

He paused in his kisses along her shoulder and raised his head so he could look her in the eyes. The moss green was dark in the moonlit room, almost as black as her pupils. “I do love you, Nora. More than I’ve ever loved someone in my life.”

Nora’s breath caught audibly before she stroked his cheek. “I know. I love you too.”

“Do you remember that night that we were coming back from dancing and you fell asleep in the car?”

She licked her bottom lip. “We’d only known each other for a few days and I was so surprised when you woke me up. It usually takes me months of knowing someone to be able to sleep around them.”

“All I could think was that I was going to need to get a bigger car for our family vacations because the little ones wouldn’t fit well in the back of mine.”

Her pupils widened a bit more and she brushed her finger against the dimple in his chin. “A little boy with my hair but your eyes chin and a little Superman shirt stealing the dish towels to use as a cape.”

He caught her hand and kissed the tip of that caressing finger. “You know I’m going to marry you, right?”

Nora’s smile was radiant. “Yep.”

Henry grinned before he kissed her. “Just checking.”

“You can’t ask until we’ve been dating a year though.”

One eyebrow rose. “That long?”

“Yep. You have to see me through all four seasons first.”

“Does California even have four seasons? It seems to swing between summer and late spring here.”

She laughed and her smile was the one that Henry classified as her extreme sports smile. “That’s because you haven’t gone snowboarding with me yet.”

He traced a fingertip over her cheek, wanting to memorize the curvature of her face when she smiled like that. “Why am I not surprised you snowboard?”

“You know how you’ve done Skype calls with your brothers to introduce me so I’m not meeting everyone at the same time?”

“Yes.” Henry smiled even though he was confused at the topic change. He’d been rather proud of that idea.

“Well, I think we should maybe take a little trip together. Getting used to travelling together that doesn’t involve tents.”

A weekend away sounded wonderful. “Where do you want to go?”

“Maybe a little cabin up in the mountains? Get snowed in for a few days.”

Henry nodded slowly, his mind quickly filling with thoughts of what they could do with no athletic trainers and no cookbooks on deadlines or Brownies asking deeply personal questions. “You do remember last time we tried to go away for a few days we both almost died.”

“But it will be different this time. You know why?”

He scratched his chin playfully as he pretended to rack his brain for an answer. “Because I believe you when you say there’s a flash flood now?”

“Well, I’m more likely to yell avalanche this time. But yeah.” She kissed him again. “We could go snowboarding together.”

Henry’s head tilted to the side as he tried to remember the details of his contract.  “Unfortunately, I’m pretty sure I’m not allowed to go snowboarding this close to time to start shooting.”

“They worried that you’re going to break yourself?”

“Something like that, yeah.”

Her fingers danced along the nape of his neck, flirting with his curls. “Can you go snowshoeing?”

“As long as I land face first in the snow when I fall over and not on a tree stump.”

Nora laughed again. “Alright. I’ll make sure I tackle you into a snowdrift and not a spruce.”

One of his hands made its way under her shirt, drifting over her stomach before settling down on the curve of her rib cage. “Do I get to tackle you back?”

“Of course. That’s the point of me tackling you. Like pulling a girl’s pigtails in middle school. It’s grown up flirting.”

“And what happens when I tackle you back?”

“Well, I’ll fight my best, but I think you’ll end up pinning me to the ground.”

Henry slid his hands up her arms until he reached her hands clasped behind his neck and gently pulled them apart before he pinned them above her head on the bed. “Like this?”

Nora nodded. “Of course, I don’t like losing so I’ll probably still struggle a bit.” She dug her heels into the bed so she could lift her hips and rub against Henry. He groaned deep in his throat and Nora tried to pull her hands loose but Henry held her firmly.

“Of course, if you did that, then I would just do this.” He pressed back against her, grinding against her core as he lowered himself over her so she was pinned underneath him.

“Oh no,” she cried in mock distress. “Whatever shall I do?”

Henry brought her hands together so he could span both of her wrists with one hand and stroked his now free hand down her thigh before closing it around her calf and hooking her leg around him. “I recommend this,” he switched which hand was loosely wrapped around her wrists and repeated the gentle caress of her leg on the other side, wrapping it around his hips, “and this.” He kissed her neck again and her legs tightened around him as she rubbed up against him.

“Kiss me, Henry,” she whispered and he claimed her mouth. The next time she pulled at his hand he let her arms go and she pulled his shirt up, yanking it off so she could run her hands over his warm skin. He rolled them over and she straddled his hips as she removed her own shirt, tossing it to join his on the floor. His fingers tracked the dip of her spine up to the clasp of her bra and as he undid it, Nora curled her shoulders to let the straps slide down her arms, revealing her breasts to Henry’s view.

“You are so amazingly beautiful, Nora.” His hands moved upward across her back, clasping her shoulders and pulling her down to him.

It was enough for the moment to kiss each other, hands stroking over the skin that was already exposed, Nora exploring the differences between the hair on Henry’s head and chin and chest, Henry returning over and over to Nora’s breasts, teasing and tugging, all the while their bodies rubbed and pressed against each other. Henry’s cock strained against the fly of his jeans and Nora kept her core grinding against him when she was on top, and her legs wrapped around him and meeting the grinding of his body with her own when she was underneath him.

“Henry,” she pleaded, when the insistent rub of her panties against her clit made it obvious that they were soaked through, “I want you inside of me.”

He simply groaned in response, kissing her stomach as he undid the button on her jeans. He peeled the fabric from her, kissing down her legs as he went and then stood long enough to pull off his own jeans. Nora rolled over to grab a condom from the nightstand and he caught her on her stomach, slowly kissing up the line of her spine as his hands slid up the sides of her body. He plucked the packet from her fingers and she looked back at him over her shoulder as he slipped it on and then his hands settled on her hips, pulling her into position, her arse high and curving.

He let go of one of her hips long enough to align his cock with her pussy, and before he started to push inside her wet heat, she pressed backwards. Her mouth fell open as she shifted and Henry’s did as well. His fingers dug into firm flesh of her hips as she enveloped him, and he surged forward with a grunt as he buried himself inside her.

Then it was just the sound of skin against skin, the slap of his hips against her arse, the wet slip of his cock in and out of her pussy, and the feel of her skin under his fingers, and the sheet under hers as she dug in, anchoring herself against the relentless urgency of the fire building in her body. The heat cascaded across her skin, flushing her tan a rosy pink and leaving a slick sheen of sweat as they moved together. Henry let go of her hip and grabbed her hair, pulling her head back so she was looking at him. He leaned forward, laying across her back and kissed her, pulling her up with him so she was just on her knees.

One of his arms wrapped around her stomach and the other around her breasts. She reached behind herself, wrapping her arms around his neck as he plundered her mouth. He sought out and found her nipple with the fingers of one hand and her clit with the other and her hips bucked against his hand as he continued to drive into her, over and over again.

“Henry,” she gasped into his mouth and his fingers swirled and tugged and she whined, too drawn out in pleasure to articulate any further words. Her body bowed against his restraining arms and her fingers scratched against his scalp as she grabbed fistfuls of his hair. His hips sped faster, drove deeper, and he pinched her nipple and her clit at the same time.

Bolts of lightning shot through her and she jolted in his arms. He did it again and she cried out incoherently as her arms tightened around his neck. He scraped his teeth against her bottom lip and tugged it in tandem with her nipple and clit and she cried out again, her body clenching into motionless as she froze, every muscle drawn taut and wanting for a second before she went limp, the waves of sensation washing over her as Henry held her up. Henry rode her through her orgasm, the intoxicating seductive feel of her pulsing around him, and then found his own, deep and hot and perfect inside her.

They collapsed together, hot and sweaty, both of them gasping for breath. Nora’s shoulder was tucked under Henry’s and his arm was slung across her back. “I don’t think we should do that in a snow bank,” Henry panted out.

“Why not? Think you’ll get frost bite on something important?” Nora giggled.

“No. I think we’d melt enough snow to cause a flash flood.”


	17. Chapter 17

For once Henry was out of bed before Nora. His up-with-the-sun girl was still sound asleep, just her hair peeking out from the pile of blankets on the cabin’s bed. He’d gotten the fire started in the fireplace and was enjoying a cup of coffee on the porch, his breath misting and mingling with the steam rising from the mug in his hands. They weren’t  _quite_ snowed in, but the additional inches of snow they had received overnight had erased the tracks the four wheel drive had made when they had arrived last evening at the remote cabin.

He turned around at the sound of the door opening to see Nora, a quilt wrapped around her shoulders, coming out to join him, her hair still messy and her fingers wrapped around her own mug of coffee. “Good morning, handsome.” She lifted her face for a kiss.

“Good morning, princess.” They both tasted of coffee as they kissed, though Nora’s was sweetened with cream and sugar.

She shuffled over to the porch swing and plopped down in her quilt. Henry followed her and sat down next to her. “Think I could get a corner of that?”

“Hmmm, I suppose.” She kicked her legs over his lap so that the quilt would cover both of them before she settled into the crook of his arm with a sleepy yawn. The morning was quiet except for the occasional wet thump of snow falling from a branch and the calls of birds. A chipmunk crawled out from under the porch and scurried over to sit at their feet, looking up expectantly. “Oh, do you think I’ve got breakfast for you?” Her voice didn’t appear to startle the small creature. “Just a minute, let me go find something.

Henry smiled as Nora got up and went back inside and the chipmunk just sat there waiting, a fat little stomach protruding over his haunches. She came back out a minute later, another quilt wrapped around her shoulders and a plastic bag in her hand. She sat down next to Henry and opened the package. She tossed a few peanuts onto the floor in front of her and the chipmunk picked up one and began to nibble on it. “I brought these up to make cookies, but I can spare a few for you.”

“You brought the stuff to make cookies?”

“Of course.” She snuggled into him and he arranged both blankets around them so they had a cushion of warmth. “I know how you are about my cookies, and I know I only have a few more weeks to feed you before you’re in Detroit and on such a strict diet I can’t even ship you goodies.”

Henry’s fingers stroked over her hair as the swing slowly moved. “Is that going to be hard for you?” He took a sip of his coffee.

“How are you supposed to know that I love if you if I can’t feed you or give you sex?”

Henry’s laughter startled the chipmunk, which dropped the peanut and scrambled off the porch onto the top step. Nora tossed a peanut towards the chipmunk and after watching both of them for a minute, it crawled back up on the porch to get the new offering.

Nora nibbled on one of the peanuts. “I wasn’t trying to be funny.”

“Nora,” he set his mug of coffee on the floor of the porch and then cupped her face with his warm fingers, “you don’t have to feed me or make love with me for me to know that you love me.”

“But how will you know? You’re going to be so far away.”

He kissed her on her forehead, the tip of her nose and then her lips. “Love, this is going to be the hard part. We were so lucky to get the uninterrupted time together that we’ve had, but there’s phone calls and texts and Skype and every once in a while plane tickets.”

Nora sighed and pulled her blanket up to her chin. “It’s not going to be the same.”

“No, it won’t. But it comes along with the job. Short of you moving to Detroit, there’s not much that can be done about it.”

“I can’t move to Detroit. I’ve got my Brownies. And a new job,” she whispered, pulling the blanket up over her mouth.

Henry tugged the blanket back down and leaned in, an eyebrow raised in question. “What was that?”

“I got a job?”

“Is that a question or a statement?”

“A statement. I got a job.”

He kissed her firmly, letting his fingers tangle in her hair. “That’s great. What are you going to be doing?”

“Um, one of my friends teaches at a culinary school and wants to hire me as an assistant, so there’s more than her observing technique. They want a better teacher to student ratio or something official sounding like that. And then I’d be sort of a lab supervisor so when students are in working on projects they have someone they can ask for help.”

“That sounds perfect for you.”

Nora stared out at the pine trees forming a circle around the cabin and watched a squirrel jump from branch to branch, sending down a shower of snow with each leap. “She said if I want to after I get some classroom experience I could probably start teaching on my own.”

“How does that feel?”

“Scary!” She turned back to Henry. “But a manageable scary I think? Maybe? I mean, I definitely don’t want to start my own class tomorrow or anything and I think it’s a reasonable goal for me, but I’m saying this only because I’m medicated.”

“I believe in you. I think you’ll be great. And if you don’t want your own class, that’s cool too. I think it’s wonderful that you’re not turning it down because you’re scared.”

Her fingers were white around her coffee mug. “Do you ever get scared? Of like a role and what people are going to think of you?”

He shrugged. “Sometimes. But I just have to let it go because it’s not helpful once I get in front of the camera.”

“Just let it go. I wish it was that easy for me.”

He kissed her temple and she rested her forehead against his jaw. “So do I, sweetheart.”

She tossed another peanut to the chipmunk. “Little steps, right?”

“Right. You don’t sprint up a mountainside.”

“Oh, and I’ll be training for the Grand Canyon while you’re gone too. I should be able to go between terms.”

“You’re still planning on going?”

She laughed and stroked a finger over the lines that had appeared on his forehead. “Of course. Don’t worry. I won’t send you video of me doing any of the really scary rapids so you won’t worry.”

He tightened his arm around her shoulders. “I’m going to worry. I know you know what you’re doing, but I will be worrying about you out there taking on Class IV rapids.”

“I’ll try and text you each night to let you know I survived, but I’m not sure what kind of signal we’ll have at the bottom of the canyon.” She found his thigh under the blankets and stroked it reassuringly.

“Let’s stop talking about us being apart in the future and concentrate on us being together right now.”

“Alright.” She took another sip of her coffee. “What do you want to do today?”

“Well, I thought we could either do snow-shoeing or cross-country skiing. Go check out the surroundings.”

“And then when we come back I can make cookies and smack your hand when you try and steal the cookie dough.”

Henry laughed and nudged her side. “Hey, I know the rules by now. I have to use a spoon.”

“That’s right. And then I’m going to beat you at Go Fish.”

“You think you’re going to take me down this time, sweet heart?”

She smiled and rested her head against his shoulder, the blush rising in her cheeks a harbinger of shyness reasserting itself. “Well, even if I lose, I think that means you have to kiss me, so either way it seems like a good time.”

“Of course, I could kiss you right now.”

She tilted her face so she was looking at him. His lips were soft and full and absorbed all of her attention. “You know what? I think you’re right.”

Henry took her coffee mug and set it down on the wooden planks of the porch before he kissed her, his hands cradling her face. Her hand rested against his chest as the kiss lengthened and they crept into his hair, running through the curls that would soon be gone. Henry sought out the warm skin of her throat, gently kissing his way down her skin, warm wet kisses that caused her to shiver. His hands moved to her back and down to her hips, pulling her closer as she twisted to press her body against his. Nora grabbed the bottom of her t-shirt and pulled it off, craving the feel of his hands on her skin. Henry captured her nipple in his mouth, sucking and licking it to a pebbled hardness against his tongue. Nora shrieked as he let go and the cold air smacked her wet skin. She shuddered and Henry picked her up and headed back into the cabin. “Maybe we’ll go snow-shoeing this afternoon,” he muttered before he tossed her on the bed and climbed on top of her.

Nora yanked his shirt off of him and ran her fingers over his hairy chest. She giggled as it tickled against her palms. “Maybe.”


	18. Chapter 18

Nora nursed her cocktail, something sweet and a bit spicy Henry had mixed for her special, and surveyed the crowd at Henry’s bar. Not that it was actually  _his_ , of course, but the one he called home when he came back to Jersey. Everyone knew him, it seemed, whether because he was famous or the island was really that small, and it looked like everyone loved him. They’d let him behind the bar to pour drinks for her and his siblings and he’d been back there ever since, playing bartender to his friends and admiring fans. She was doing okay sitting at the bar. At least that way she had one direction to face where she wasn’t surrounded by people, and Henry would touch her hand every time he walked by. Still, after a while the sheer press of people and the number of new faces grew to be overwhelming.

Henry noticed the tightness around Nora’s eyes and the difficulty she was having maintaining a smile right about that point as well, and on his next pass by her he stopped. “You want to go play in the kitchen?”

“Play in the kitchen?”

He nodded his head towards the doors where waitresses frequently appeared. “You need a break from the crowd I can tell. I’m sure you could go play in the kitchen for a bit to take a break if you want, or we can take off. Go find some place quiet, just the two of us.”

Nora tore her eyes away from the doors after noting which one waitresses exited and which they entered. “You don’t think the chef would mind?”

“This isn’t a five star restaurant, babe. Just go back and make yourself something to eat.”

Nora counted the hours since they had last eaten in her head. ”You’re hungry and want a snack.”

“Well, you know, if you  _happen_  to make a little extra I wouldn’t mind if you bring it up front for me.”

She laughed and “Hollow leg.”

“That’s right. Just ask for Charles.”

Nora squeezed his hand to reassure herself before she slipped off her stool and made her way through the swinging doors. She stopped just inside the kitchen and out of the way of the door as she scanned the kitchen, looking for the chef. It was a simpler kitchen than she was used to from her time in a restaurant, with fewer staff as well, but it looked like home. The sound of orders and hot oil and gas burners combined with the constant hum of knives being put through various workouts. One of the waitresses stopped on her way out of the kitchen. “You lost, honey?”

“No. I was told to ask for Charles, but I’m looking for the chef.”

“Same guy.” She pointed across the kitchen at an older man working a grill. He was completely bald and his jacket was spotless.

Nora thanked her and made her way across the kitchen, the rubbery floor familiar under her feet, to where Charles was grilling several different types of meat and seafood. He spared her a glance out of eyes framed by deep wrinkles. “You shouldn’t be back here, missy.”

She took a deep breath and addressed the older man. “Henry sent me. He told me to ask for you.”

Charles laughed and flipped over a steak. “Let me guess; the bottomless pit is hungry? He could have sent an order back with the waitress.”

Nora smoothed her hands over her shirt, alarmed that her palms were sweaty. She didn’t want a knife slipping from her grip. “If it’s alright, I’ll make something for him.”

Charles snorted. “This is a commercial kitchen, darling. You don’t belong in here. You’ll get burned or cut and I don’t need Superman looking to do some damage on me.”

Nora’s nostrils flared before she quickly reined in her temper. You did  _not_  get snippy with the chef. “I graduated from Le Cordon Bleu. I know my way around a kitchen.”

“Oh, so the lad’s found someone who can keep himself fed, does he? Good on ‘im.” He pointed to an empty station. “One of my assistants is out sick. Make whatever you want. He’ll more than pay for it with the additional business tonight.”

Nora thanked the chef and took a few minutes to familiarize herself with the kitchen and ingredients as she braided her hair back out of her face. She pulled on an extra jacket and set to work. About thirty minutes later she took a large stoneware platter out to Henry. “Theoretically, this is enough to feed your brothers too, but you don’t have to share if you don’t want. My attempt at a seafood charcuterie – seared scallops with a prosciutto wrap, king prawns with a Meyer lemon aioli, mussels and oysters steamed in coconut milk and a little bit of green curry,  smoked clams with tequila butter, seared mushrooms with a local herbed goat cheese, garlic-roasted asparagus, some chutneys and an assortment of chargrilled breads.”  

Henry was practically drooling when he looked up from the food to meet her gaze again. “Don’t let my brothers anywhere near that.”

Nora laughed. “Day after Christmas and you’re being selfish already. So quickly the Christmas spirit dies.”

He looked down at the loaded platter before he remembered his manners and took it from her. “I can’t believe you cooked all this in thirty minutes.”

“Well, cooked some, assembled others. Luckily the pub shares a kitchen with the restaurant. There are some really good sous chefs back there, though I don’t think they’d call themselves that. Charles ordered me to stop calling him chef.”

Henry laughed again. “Charles is a fixture around here. He’s been cooking longer than I’ve been alive.”

“Alright. You eat before that all gets cold. I should take back the jacket.”

Henry’s head tilted to the side as he gave her a slow down and back up. “Chef’s whites look good on you.”

Nora rubbed a hand against her face, trying to convince herself that the heat there was because she had been standing over a stove, but both her and Henry and Nora knew better. She leaned in and whispered in his ear. “Yeah, well, maybe you’ll get lucky someday and I’ll wear them for you.”

He turned to her so his lips were almost brushing her cheek. “Just the jacket?”

She stepped back. “And maybe the hat.” She wiggled her fingers at him and escaped before he came after her.

Henry took a break from pouring drinks and took the huge platter over to where his brothers were sitting. As they ate together he kept an eye out for Nora to return from the kitchen but she didn’t reappear. After they had finished everything on the platter, he snuck back to the kitchen to make sure she was alright and saw her bent over a cook station, working away.  Charles saw him first and beckoned him over.

“You can have her back at the end of the night. I was down a man and even without knowing the menu she’s faster than him.”

“As long as that’s alright with her.”

Charles glanced over at where Nora was working before he turned his attention back to the grill. “She seemed a bit nervous about agreeing to help, but she’s fit right in. If you move back to Jersey, you bring her with you. Standing offer to hire her on the spot.”

Henry smiled as he watched her working. “Make sure you tell her that. She’s a bit leery about working in a professional kitchen because of some personal history.”

“I will. She’s good people as well as a good chef.”

Henry wondered when people praising Nora began to mean more to him than praise about himself. Sometime in the last few weeks obviously. “Do you think you can sneak out another order of those tequila clams?”

“That something she cooked up for you?”

“Yeah. That not your recipe?”

Charles shook his head. “She did that huge platter herself. Should I have her teach it to me?”

“It’ll be a best seller.” He made his way over to Nora and stayed out of her way as she managed multiple sauté pans.

She shot him a glance, so similar to the glance Charles had spared for him as he had managed his grill. “Uh, I’m helping out in here for a bit. You going to be alright out there without me?”

Henry kept from laughing at her concern about whether he’d be alright without her. “Yeah, I’ll be fine. You think you can manage some more of those tequila clams for me? Teach Charles the recipe while you’re at it?”

“I’ll have someone bring them out.”

He smiled as she went back to her stove without even bothering to say goodbye. She was at home.

About twenty minutes later a waitress dropped off a bowl of clams for him. “What are those?” she asked. “I’ve never seen that dish come out of the kitchen.”

He let her try one and she exclaimed over how good they were, so the other bartenders asked for a taste and Henry managed to get one before they were devoured. He sent the waitress back to the kitchen with a request for another bowl.

He kept up with the bar, preferring to be behind it because it gave him a chance to talk to all his old friends who were home for the holidays as they came in without getting caught up in taking photos with fans. Part of him wished that Nora was out here so he could introduce her to everyone, but mostly he was glad she had found a place for herself where she was happy. She did come out at one point to grab another bottle of tequila. He got it off the top shelf for her and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “You burn through the one in the kitchen?”

“Apparently someone out here has been telling people to order ‘Nora’s Clams.’ Have any idea who that might be?”

Henry did his best to look innocent. “Probably one of my brothers.”

“Right.” She kissed his cheek before she headed back into the kitchen.

A few hours later the pub closed down and Henry made his way back to the kitchen to find Nora, Charles and the rest of the kitchen crew sitting around a big table in one corner eating.

Charles waved him away with half a loaf of bread in one meaty hand. “Don’t you come in here. There won’t be anything left for the rest of us.”

Henry laughed at the man who had taught him his way around a stove when he had tended bar here before he achieved any success as an actor. “Not here for your food. Just seeing if you’re going to let Nora go willingly or if I’m going to have to fight you for her.”

Charles heaved himself to his feet, tired after a full shift, and hugged Henry. “If I was thirty years younger maybe.”

Nora took a final bite of the cioppino that Charles had made for the kitchen staff before she stood up. Charles gave her a bear hug. “You come back here young lady, and bring your own knives next time. I want to see what you’re capable of when you’re at full speed.”

“Only if you agree to teach me that filet technique on the salmon. It’s a thing of beauty.”

He gave her another hug. “It’s a deal, missy.”

He clapped Henry on the shoulder. “You take care of this one, or you’ll answer to me, you understand?”

“Yes, sir.”

As Henry and Nora made their way to Henry’s car, he kept looking at her. The golden strands in her air glimmered in the moonlight and her face shone. She kept grinning at nothing and was practically skipping, swinging their hands between them. “You look happy.”

Her laughter floated from her like a child releasing a dozen balloons. “I did a night in a kitchen and didn’t freak out. I mean, I know I was just filling in so there wasn’t any pressure because I was going to be better than no one, but still. It felt good. Really good.”

“I have a feeling ‘Nora’s Clams’ are going to end up on the menu next time he makes up a new one.” He could tell she was blushing even in the darkness.

“They did seem to be popular, didn’t they?”

Henry could hear the disbelief in her voice and pressed her against the side of his car as he cupped her face with both hands. “You’re a fabulous chef, princess. You shouldn’t be surprised people like your food.” He kissed her softly and Nora wrapped her arms around his waist, holding on to him to keep from floating away on a cloud of happiness. “In fact, you should probably make them for my parents tomorrow, so they can say they’ve had Nora’s clams made by Nora herself.”

She laughed and rested her head against his shoulder. “You just want some more for yourself.”

“Maybe.”

She tickled his sides and he burst out laughing before he managed to get her hands stopped.

“Fine. Yes, I would like some more.”

“Alright, but that means you need to wake up early tomorrow with me so we can go shopping. I want to try smoking them over different types of fires to see which kind of wood smoke makes the best flavor combination.”

Henry considered her off-handed pronouncement carefully. “Does this mean I get to build fires?”

Nora laughed at his barely constrained glee. “Yes, you can build fires.”

“This is the best Christmas ever.”


	19. Chapter 19

Nora was not used to big families, and with Henry she was getting not only a big family, but a family where all the men were big. Henry wasn’t the tallest, but he was the broadest, and, at least in her opinion, the most attractive. What had surprised her most about meeting Henry’s family, beyond just the number of people involved in everything, was the noise. It was always loud as brothers caught up with each other, grandkids ran around screaming with a degree of freedom they didn’t enjoy at home, and the constant traffic of friends coming and going. There was never any quiet. When she and Henry got back with the clams from their early morning shopping trip to the fishmongers, it took his brothers less than four minutes to turn their plans for a quiet family dinner on the beach into an early New Year’s Eve party with what felt like the entire island being invited. It took about thirty seconds after that for her to be on the verge of her first full-blown panic attack since Thanksgiving. An awkward silence fell as everybody watched her flee from the table and Henry shoved the last package of clams into the refrigerator and went running after her.

He caught her with her hand on the front door. She had a death grip on the handle and her entire body shook as he wrapped himself around her, fighting the instinct to pry her hand loose, one finger at a time if necessary. “Nora, you’re safe. I’ve got you and you’re safe. I’m not going to leave you alone. I’m right here with you.”

She sucked in a deep breath and coughed and then her breath came in shallow little gasps. He kept both arms wrapped around her, holding her against his chest, while he murmured soft words of comfort in her ear. “That’s right. I’m here. You’re going to be fine. It’s all going to be fine. Me and you, we’ll get through this together, alright?”

“I don’t,” she gasped, “I don’t have enough,” another harsh inhalation and she shook her head, frustrated with her own inability to breathe, “not enough clams.”

“Everyone will bring food.” He heard footsteps behind him in the long central hallway of the home and he looked over his shoulder to see his mother approaching. He shook his head at her and she went back, a concerned frown on her face. Several other family members stood at the other end of the hall where it opened into the large kitchen and dining area from which she had fled.

Nora’s chest heaved against his arms as she fought to fill her lungs again. “Not enough.”

His attention was back to her. “We have plenty.” He stroked his hands over her arms, waiting to feel the taut muscles relax.

“So many people.”

“And I’ll be right there. I’m not going to leave you alone, I promise.”

Her fingers loosened on the handle “Promise…promise me, promise you’ll stay by me.”

“I will be there, right by your side, until you tire of me being underfoot and shoo me away.”

Her hand fell from the doorknob and she whirled around and buried her face in the crook of his neck. Wanting to protect her from any more attention, he carried her through the first open doorway available, into the formal parlor, probably the least used room in the house, and sat in what he hoped was a comfortable chair. He held her loosely, stroking her hair and murmuring reassuring nonsense to her as she fought for breath.  She was pale and cold under her tan and a clammy sweat dotted her forehead and her upper lip. Her chest heaved as she fought for every bit of air she could get into her constricting lungs, and she dug her nails into his hand as she could only make choking sounds.

“That’s it, love. Just keep breathing. I’ve got you.”

She took one deep inhale and fought to slowly breathe out, and then another as her hands shook.

“You’ve had a hard five days. Staying with people you don’t know, no quiet, no space to call your own. You’ve been doing great.” She collapsed against him, curling up into a ball and he tightened his arms around her. “You’ve been under so much stress and you’ve been doing so well.”

She closed her eyes, her forehead wrinkling with what appeared to be pain before tears leaked out from under her eyelids, staining her lashes black. “I’m so tired of being afraid all the time,” she whispered.

“I know,” he answered and kissed her forehead. She slowly calmed down and he knew she was on the road to recovery when she undid a few buttons on his shirt so she could slip a hand inside and rest it over his heart.

Sarah, Henry’s sister-in-law, carried in a tray a few minutes later. “A little bit of breakfast. I don’t think either of you got a chance to eat this morning.”

Nora sat up as Sarah placed the tray on the coffee table. “That’s so nice of you.”

“Nothing fancy, but I remember my first few times visiting the family. It made me want to run screaming from being overwhelmed by it all, and I don’t even have an anxiety disorder.”

Nora managed a faltering smile as she took the tea cup Sarah handed her.

“You get used to it. Eventually. The first few years I would pack little airline bottles of alcohol in my luggage for when I needed a break.”

Henry laughed as he took the proffered cup. “You did not.”

“Yes I did, and considering you were the one that asked us if we’d had sex in front of your parents, you were responsible for at least a little bit of the vodka that got consumed.”

Henry laughed again at the memory and helped himself to one of the muffins. “If it makes you feel better, her Brownies – junior Girl Guides – have asked if they can be flower girls.”

“Are you two planning a wedding and haven’t told me yet?” His mother walked in carrying a plate of bacon which she added to the tray. “One thing I learned raising my boys is that bacon makes everything better. Freshly cooked.”

“You didn’t have to do that,” Nora protested, feeling uncomfortable at the special treatment, but his mother brushed her concerns away.

“You share some similarities with my mum,” Henry noted. “You both feed people to make them feel better. And to make yourself feel better.”

Nora shoved a piece of bacon in his mouth. “Then eat your breakfast.”

That seemed to be the sign that she was recovered and the rest of Henry’s family slowly trickled in, wanting to reassure themselves that things had returned to normal, and they hadn’t scared her away or damaged her relationship with Henry. Over the last few weeks, he had called each of his brothers to ask for their forbearance from the normal familial harassment of new members and then had Skype conversations with each where they met Nora so that she would feel more comfortable. Her quiet shyness that broke out into occasional radiant smiles had endeared her to all of them before she had met them, and over the last few days they had seen the small flashes of humor that made it evident she wasn’t overshadowed by his outsized personality. They’d also seen a gentler side of Henry when he interacted with her that made it evident that he was completely besotted with her, and seeing her curled up in his lap while they fed each other pieces of bacon and bites of toast only confirmed what they had all felt.

“So why are you dating him anyway?” Charlie finally asked, as everyone very carefully kept their feet off of the furniture. “You’re gorgeous, can cook like nobody’s business, you don’t need his money, and he can barely keep up with you athletically.”

Nora looked up at Henry, not sure how to take such a remark, before Henry answered. “That’s not true.”

Niki looked at him skeptically. “She takes you on one little hike and you end up having to get search and rescue called on you.”

His brothers laughed and Piers added, “And we saw the video of you trying to snow shoe.”

“It’s harder than it looks,” Henry retorted.

“Yeah, I’ve heard that before.”

“And it’s not like he’s buying you proper jewelry anyway, Nora,” Simon chimed in. “That bracelet he got you for Christmas doesn’t look nearly as posh as you deserve.”

Nora covered the wrapped leather bracelet on her wrist protectively with one hand. “Well he got me this to wear to remind me of him while he’s gone, and since I’ll be kayaking the Grand Canyon, this is perfect.” No one else needed to know that the inside of the button that closed the beaded strands was engraved, ‘Distance cannot separate us.’ “And besides, we did Christmas before we flew over, so we wouldn’t be trying to schlep presents across the Atlantic and back.”

“What did he get you then?”

Nora smiled at Henry, remembering that morning they had exchanged gifts. “A tagine, a couscoussier, and all the specialty spices for them, like haz al ranout and harissa and preserved lemons.”

His family members looked at each other with expressions demonstrating varying levels of confusion and then Charlie finally asked, “And that’s a good present?”

Nora laughed and then nodded. “Very good. I’d been talking about wanting to explore North African cooking, and now I can.”

“I think I would have preferred jewelry,” Sarah replied.

“I’ve got my mom’s wedding ring in my jewelry box at home. It’s a nice big ring, probably two and a half or three carats. Didn’t keep my mom from walking out on us when I was two.” Henry stroked his hand up and down her arm soothingly, the edge to her words mirrored in the tension suddenly rife through her body.

“That’s not what I meant.”

“I know. But this present means he listened to me.” She looked from Sarah to Henry and then rested her head on his shoulder. “That means more than a diamond. At least to me,” she finished softly.

Piers tactfully changed the topic. “And what’d you get him?”

“A sea kayak and a promise to teach him how to use it when he gets back from Detroit.”

Henry’s arm tightened around her waist. Neither one of them were looking forward to the imminent separation. “Something for both of us to look forward to.”

“Seriously, Nora. Surely you can find someone who’s not going to be gone for months at a time,” Simon chimed in again. “It’s not like him being a superstar means much to you. You don’t exactly strike me as the one to crave the spotlight.”

Maybe this was how brothers treated each other, but this was not how people talked about her Henry. “Well, I mean, he is rich as a king, and amazingly good looking, and perfectly charming, and you know, absolutely fantastic in bed,” she kissed Henry’s blushing cheek as she waited for his brothers’ cat calls to die down, “but I love him because he makes it safe for me to take a risk.” She cupped his jaw without having to look and he pressed a kiss to her temple, lingering there for several seconds, and everyone in the room knew that they were looking at the newest member of the family.

“Alright, all of you,” his mother stood and made a shoeing motion, “out of here so they can finish eating their breakfast without an audience.”

Everyone slowly got up and ambled out of the room. Henry received several shoulder pats and hair ruffles from his brothers, and Nora got an awkward hug from Sarah. Henry’s father stopped and kissed the top of her head. “I made him tough enough to be a man,” he said quietly. “You’ve given him someone to be a man for.” He clapped Henry on the shoulder and left, leaving Henry looking after him with tears in his eyes.

They were left with just Henry’s mother. “When you’re done eating,” she brushed Nora’s hair back from her face, “I’m sending you upstairs to lie down. You got home late last night and were up and out early this morning, and who knows what you did in between. Food and sleep and you’ll feel better.”

“Thank you. For everything.”

She smiled and patted her son on the arm. “And I’ll keep this one downstairs so you can actually sleep.”

“I actually…” Nora faltered, not sure if it was appropriate to make the request she wanted to voice.

“You sleep better with him there, don’t you?” Her smile was gentle. “Alright. He can come with you.” She turned to her son and looked at him sternly. “But you let her sleep, young man.”

Henry smiled sheepishly. “Yes, Mum.”

Henry waited for his mother to exit, and then kissed Nora softly. “How are you feeling?”

“I think your mother’s right.”

“About what?”

She picked up the last piece of bacon and took a bite. “Bacon does make everything better.”

 


	20. Chapter 20

Nora didn’t open her eyes but she couldn’t help smiling as Henry’s hand started slowly working its way under her camisole. He was snuggled up against her back and strands of her hair swayed in the eddying air caused by his breathing. “You’re supposed to be letting me sleep,” she whispered.

She felt his laughter against her back as he sought to remain quiet. “Do you really want to sleep right now?” His hand slid higher and his fingertips brushed over one of her nipples.

She batted ineffectually at his hand. “You promised your mother.”

He hooked one of his legs over hers, the hair on his calf rubbing against her ankle as he pulled their bodies closer together, nestling the curve of her bum into his groin. His scruff scraped against the delicate skin on the back of her neck as his mouth brushed away the hair so he could kiss her warm skin. “I won’t tell her if you don’t.”

Nora took along moment to enjoy the feel of his body warm and hard against her own. They’d both stripped down to their underwear to sleep in, and she could feel the line of his hardening cock nestled against the dip of her bum. She reluctantly pulled away. “I can’t lie to her.”

Henry’s hand stopped its caresses. After a moment, he said, “You’re serious.”

Nora turned her face into the pillow, embarrassed at disappointing him. “Yes.”

He slid his hand back down to her waist and squeezed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.” He placed a soft kiss on her neck and removed his leg. Nora lay silent and still until she felt him roll over onto his back. A chill raced through her, leaving goosebumps over her arms, and not just because of the sudden lack of his body heat. Lines of pain etched themselves around the corners of her eyes.

She rubbed a hand across her face and steeled herself for the conversation to come. “Do you remember the phone conversation I had with my mother on Christmas day?”

“No.”

“Exactly. I called. There was no answer so I left a voicemail, and she didn’t call me back.”

The mattress shifted as he rolled over towards her again and rested his hand in the dip of her waist. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize.”

“It shouldn’t even be a surprise anymore. When Dad was alive, I’d hear from her twice a year, once on my birthday and once at Christmas. And then when Dad died and she had to come take care of me, I was horrible to her. She left the day after my eighteenth birthday, and now I’m lucky if I hear from her at all.” She still hadn’t opened her eyes, not wanting to see the pity there that she always saw when she dared to tell someone about her broken relationship with her mother. “She sends me a post card when she changes cities so I have her address in case of emergency, but that’s about it.”

“You really are all alone, aren’t you?”

She made herself smile. “Not anymore. I have you.”

His arm slid around her waist and tugged her back against his body again. “And now you have my family. You have a mom.”

She shook her head, her hair clinging to the pillow. “And I can’t lie to her. I can’t be an awful daughter again.”

“You were a teenager and you’d just lost your father. I’m sure she understood.”

“No. She left because she didn’t want to be a mom and she resented having to come back to take care of me.” She rubbed her hand over her face again and wished she’d never brought up the topic. “I told her that I wished she had died instead of Dad.”

“She knew you didn’t mean it.”

Nora squirmed her way out of Henry’s grasp and climbed out of the bed. She went to the window, staring up at the bleached blue sky and the darting flights of a few lonely birds. “But I did.”

Henry sat up in the bed, watching her, torn between giving her the space she wanted or the comfort she needed. “You were hurt and angry, Nora. She had to understand that.”

“She didn’t want me. I was what messed up her marriage. And then Dad died…” She looked back at him “Did I ever tell you how?”

“No. You’ve always changed the topic when conversation got to close to it.”

She went back to staring out the window, her fingers running up and down the edge of the curtain. “I didn’t listen to him. It was New Year’s and we’d gone to Australia on vacation. Got a little house on the beach and he told me I wasn’t supposed to go in the water by myself. But I was a teenager, you know? So I didn’t listen. I got caught in a riptide, and by the time he found me and got me out, he didn’t have the strength to save himself.”

Henry rubbed the back of his neck, completely stunned. He had no idea of what to say to her. “I’m so sorry.”

“Flew home from Australia by myself with him in the cargo hold.” Her voice was completely devoid of emotion, and her face was slack as she continued to stare off into the distance.

Henry climbed out of bed and went to her, turning her so she could burrow into his chest. “That’s what you were thinking about while we sat on that ledge in the Narrows, wasn’t it? Your dad.”

“It’s why following the rules is so important to me now.” She restlessly stroked her fingers over his chest. “If I do exactly what I’m told, then no one’s going to get hurt.”

Henry hated feeling so helpless in the face of her pain. If it was someone who was hurting her like this he could have protected her, but he had no idea how to keep her safe from her past. “I’m a little surprised you kept up with all the outdoors stuff. I would think you’d have quit.”

“I told you before; nature doesn’t make fun of you. It just kills you. Well, if I die out there, it’s probably because I’ve done something stupid and I deserve it.”

The words caused bile to burn the back of his throat and he let go of her to clasp her face and make her look at him. “You don’t deserve to die.”

She turned her face away, fighting against his hands to not have to look at him. “Maybe not. But I think if I had died instead of my dad, my parents would have gotten back together.”

“There’s no way of knowing that, Nora.”

“She was  _always_  in love with Dad.” Nora pushed away from him again and went back to the bed. She sat for a moment and then stood up again and began pacing the room. “She never dated anyone else after she left him.”

Henry watched her carefully, waiting to see if she was going to work herself up into another panic attack, but her breathing stayed calm. It seemed safe to disagree with her. “It doesn’t sound to me like you had enough contact with her to be able to tell that for certain.”

Nora grabbed her hair and yanked it back out of her face and began braiding it, pulling it hard so it would stay in place. “She wouldn’t lie. Mother is very honest. Even when it hurts.” She jerked the next section of hair particularly hard and winced.

Henry grabbed her hands and held them away from her face. “What did she say to you, Nora?” Nora struggled to pull her hands free but Henry held them still with a gentle firmness, not tight enough to hurt, but not loose enough where she could wrench herself free. “What did she say to you?”

“When I told her I wished she had died instead of Dad, she told me that she wished I’d died instead of him.”

Henry’s hands loosened their grip in shock and Nora pulled away from him. “God, Nora, what a horrible thing for her to tell you.”

“She was just telling the truth. Thou shalt not lie. She did better at being a Christian than I did because I sure didn’t honor my mother and me not honoring my father got him killed.”

He reached for her and she lurched away from him so he let her be. “Even if it were true, she didn’t have to say it.”

“But –,”

“No. You told me what my dad did with me wasn’t alright, and I’m going to tell you that there are no circumstances that make what she said to you acceptable. None.”

Nora stared out the window again. The circling birds were down to just one. “She was telling the truth. That’s what you’re supposed to do.”

Henry couldn’t understand her need to defend her mother’s abominable behavior. “Nora, can you imagine  _any_  circumstance in which you would tell a child, much less  _your_  child, that you wished they had died?”

Her chin quivered and she stared at the floor. Her shoulders began to shake and Henry gathered her into his arms again. “I tried so hard to be good after that. I found Jesus. I followed all the rules, and it didn’t fix anything. It didn’t make my mom love me. It didn’t bring back my dad. My panic attacks got worse. Nothing I can do could fix any of it. I can’t fix any of it.”

He stroked her back, wondering how such a gentle spirit had survived carrying such a heavy burden. “It’s not your job to fix your mother, Nora.”

“I wish I had died,” she whispered, the words barely audible. “Everyone’s life would have been so much easier.”

Henry’s hand came to a sudden halt on her back. “Don’t say that.”

“It’s true.”

“Don’t say that!” he repeated. “It’s not true. What would my life be like without you? I fell in love with you the first time I kissed you. I can’t imagine a day where I don’t want you next to me. My life is so much better because you’re in it.” His chest tightened from the pain of considering a future where she wasn’t with him. He couldn’t even imagine what the reality of such a bleak existence would be like. Their golden-hued future faded to black and white.

“You’ll find someone else.”

He let go of her and staggered back. “What do you mean I’ll find someone else? Are you breaking up with me?”

“No. But it only took my mom two years to give up on me. I’m giving you a year before you’ll leave.” She hugged herself tightly, shivering barefoot on the hard cold floor. For the second time her arms broke out in goosebumps, but for an entirely different reason now.

Henry ran a hand through his hair as he stared at her, wondering what was going on. Just last night they had been so incredibly happy, and now this. It was like being blind-sided. “Is that why you’re making me wait to ask you to marry me? You think I’m going to leave?”

She glanced up at him and then away again. She hadn’t been this shy around him in weeks and he felt like the floor was crumbling underfoot and he couldn’t find stable ground to stand on. “Maybe I’m lucky you’re an actor. If you’re gone for months at a time, maybe you’ll never actually get to the point where you leave me.”

“You don’t really believe that, do you? I love you, Nora.”

“You’re only two and a half months in.”

He crossed his arms over his chest as he fought back the anger her words caused in him. A vein throbbed in his throat as he wondered how she could believe something like that about him. “If you really think everyone will leave you, why did you invite me over for dinner in the first place?”

It took her a while to answer and when she did her throat sounded raw. “I didn’t think you’d actually fall in love with me.”

“So just for fun? Why push yourself to do something that terrified you? It doesn’t make sense.” She didn’t answer, still staring at the floor with her arms wrapped tightly around her. Her pale yellow camisole was doing a horrible job of keeping her warm right now, but Henry was so upset he couldn’t feel the chill. “Why did you ask me out, Nora?”

“I was practicing,” she finally said.

“Practicing what? Asking out men who you think are going to leave you?”

She shook her head, and the braid started to loosen, but her expression became no more relaxed. “Practicing being brave.”

“Why?”

“Why not?” she shot back.

“You are brave, Nora. You do all sorts of crazy insane sports. You’re going to kayak one of the hardest stretches of water in the North America. Why do you need to be braver than you already are?”

Nora didn’t say anything as the corners of her mouth sagged, carving into her face. Her eyes were wide open as she stared at him unflinchingly, flat green stones that absorbed all the light and gave back darkness. You aren’t supposed to be able to see in the dark, but Henry saw the truth of what she was planning there in the shadows of her eyes.

“No. You’re not… Tell me you’re not, Nora. Tell me you’re being brave so we have can have the future we want together.”

Her eyelids drooped but didn’t fall completely shut.

“Nora!” He grabbed her face and made her look at him again. “Tell me you’re aren’t planning something. Tell me that. Please, god, Nora, tell me you don’t have a plan.”

“I won’t lie to you, Henry. I don’t tell lies.”

“What is it?” He was instantly freezing cold. He clutched her upper arms and shook her once when she didn’t respond. “What are you planning?”

She stared through him, as if he were a mirage, as if she were already a ghost. “Just because it’s the truth, doesn’t mean I have to say.”

“Nora, please, baby. Let me help. Let me help you. Please!”

“I’ve been as brave…” she whispered. “I’ve been as brave as I can today. I’m so tired.”

He felt her begin to slip through his arms and grabbed her, picking her up and cradling her against his chest. “You’re brave, darling. Brave enough to tell me you had a plan. That was very brave. Don’t you worry, princess. I’m going to fix this. I’m going to make this better for you.” He rocked her back and forth like a baby as he held her, turning in circles as he searched his room, looking for something,  _anything_ , that might give him an idea of how to help her. Tears filled his eyes as he failed to come up with a solution. And so he was brave and took Nora’s advice. He admitted to himself that he didn’t know everything, and then he fumbled open the bedroom door and yelled for his mom.


	21. Chapter 21

Henry sat on the bed holding Nora in his arms. He’d pulled a blanket up over her to keep her warm and to shield her body from the view of his parents. She was vulnerable enough as it was and there were so few things he could do to keep her safe that keeping her covered like she preferred was imperative. His mother had listened to him for one minute and then called her husband in as well. He knew Nora wasn’t sleeping, her breathing wasn’t right, but he also knew she didn’t have the courage to go through this herself. She’d given him this burden and trusted him to carry it for her, so he did.

“She didn’t tell you what her plan was?” his father asked.

“No. Nothing. I don’t know when or how or anything.”

“Has she been saying goodbye to people? Giving away things?”

“No. Even with her Christmas present to me, it was for her to teach me how to kayak when I got back from Detroit. That’s months from now.”

His father ran a hand over his thinning hair a few times. “Then I think, right now, you should let her sleep. She’s been under a lot of stress, and it sounds like it triggered some memories. You can try talking again when she wakes up but I think as long as you’re with her, she’ll be safe for now.”

His mother leaned over and stroked Nora’s hair and then kissed her forehead before doing the same to Henry. “We’re all here for both of you.”

“Please,” Henry looked down at Nora resting against his chest, “please don’t tell anyone. Even my brothers. She wouldn’t want the extra attention.”

“Of course not, dear. But if it comes down to keeping her safe…” His mother trailed off and Henry nodded.

“I’ll do whatever is needed to keep her safe.”

His parents left the room and shut the door quietly behind them. Henry slid his arms under the blanket and wrapped them around Nora, hoping that the extra contact would help sooth her. He picked up her hand and held it over his heart. “I’ve got your security blanket, darling. I’m going to keep you safe, alright? I’ll always do my best to keep you safe.”

He felt her fingers flex under his palm and knew she was listening, even if she was too emotionally exhausted to respond.

“It hurts, Nora. It hurts when you think I will leave you. I thought you knew me better than that. We’ve talked about getting married, darling. I wouldn’t do that if I wasn’t in this for the long haul, and I am. I’m here and you’re not getting rid of me. You get on my case for not listening to you, but this is one time where I’m not going to. I’m not leaving. And if you think,” he choked back the lump in his throat, “if you think for one  _instant_  that I will let you hurt yourself, you are wrong. I don’t care what I have to do, but you are  _not_  going to hurt yourself.”

She shifted slightly in his arms, tucking her head under his chin and wrapping her fingers around his thumb.

“The first day I saw you it was beautiful. The sun was shining and birds were singing and then you came running into view and the sun hasn’t stopped shining since. You’re my sunshine, Nora. You make everything better. You make me better.” A tear dropped from his cheek onto her hair. “Please. Please, darling. Don’t leave me.”

A hot tear scalded his chest. “I don’t want to leave you,” he heard in a sodden whisper.

Henry choked back a sob. “Then don’t. Stay right here with me, love. Right here in my arms.”

“I’ve been planning for so long that I feel stuck. Like I don’t know how to get away from it. And I’m so scared that if I tell someone that I’ll get locked up and I can’t be, I can’t be, I can’t –” She choked on the words, trying to get them out past lungs that were fighting her.

“Shhh, I won’t let that happen.” Henry kissed the top of her head, all he could reach with her tucked up under his chin, and then raised their joined hands so he could kiss her there as well. “Will you tell me how long you’ve been planning?” He couldn’t say suicide. He couldn’t say the words ‘hurt yourself.’ It would make it too real and he was barely staying strong enough for her as it was. He had no idea how she had managed to conceal something of this magnitude from him for so long.

She was quiet for so long that he had almost given up on her sharing anymore with him, but finally quiet words made their way past her lips. “A few years now. Since I quit at the restaurant. I knew that I was staring at the rest of my life, empty and alone, and I knew my mom was right. I should have died instead of my dad. We’d planned, my dad and I, to kayak the Grand Canyon together when I graduated high school so I’ve spent the last few years getting good enough to do it, and I was just going to let the river take me. I wasn’t going to kill myself so much as just not try to survive.”

The defeat in her voice was chilling. There was no trace of her gentle kindness or unexpected humor. “That’s why you say you’re not afraid of nature. You’re looking to die.”

“No. I wasn’t trying to die when we were in the Narrows. I wasn’t trying to die when we went snowshoeing. This was me planning to go be with the one person who ever really loved me.”

“You have me now. I love you.”

“I know. But I’m spent so long believing that he was the only one who would ever leave me that it’s hard for me to turn that off. And then when we almost died in The Narrows, all I could think was that I’d broken the rules by taking an inexperienced hiker into the canyon and now you were going to die because of me too. It was part of the reason I was so mad at you.”

“I didn’t die though.”

“No, you didn’t. And you kept me from dying, too.”

He shifted her on his lap so that he could see her face while keeping her hand against his chest. “And I’m going to continue to keep you from dying, even if it means calling every kayaking company that does Grand Canyon trips and paying them to not take you.”

“I…I wasn’t going to go with anyone.” She looked away from him. I was just going to pick a day during the height of spring run and do it myself. I didn’t want to endanger anyone else.”

“Promise me,” he caught her chin and gently held her face still so he could look her in the eyes, “you’re not going to do it.”

She blinked a few times, her lashes wet and dark. “I promise,” she said softly.

“Say it again.”

“I promise.” She squeezed his hand. “I won’t do it. I don’t want to die. I just want to stop feeling like I should be dead.”

He rested his forehead against hers and closed his eyes for a moment. The iron fingers gripping his heart slowly relaxed as he felt her breath fan over his face. “Do I need to take you to Detroit with me?”

“No. I have a job now. And my Brownies. But most importantly I have you.”

He stroked her cheek, brushing back the hair that had flattened itself to the side of her head as she had rested against him. “Will it be enough with me not there beside you?”

“I can’t just sit around and wait for you to come home at night.” There was a hint of her old spirit back in her voice and he relaxed a bit more.

“I could pull some strings. Get you on craft services.”

“No.” She shook her head in a panic. “No more pulling strings. I don’t want to test recipes or do craft services. I have a job teaching and it will get me back in a real kitchen again and then maybe my own classes.” She took a deep shuddering breath that made her tremble in his arms. “I was trying to be brave so I could be strong enough to end everything. But I think I accidentally ended up being brave enough to actually start over.” Her face twisted in a confused parody of a smile.

“Thank god.” He pulled her against him and kissed her, needing to put passion and love and life back into her against the pain and depression that had claimed so much of her soul. Nora slid her arms around his neck as his hands dove under her shirt, spreading across her back and pressing her closer. He never wanted her to be so far away that he couldn’t feel the pain in her heart and remove it as soon as it sprouted. He tasted the salt on her lips and pulled back enough to wipe away the tears newly decorating her cheeks. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” he murmured.

“Oh Henry,” she squeaked out like the heroine in a bad melodrama, “don’t leave me or I’ll kill myself.” She made a gagging noise before she gnawed nervously on her lip and stroked the hair on his chest. “I had to trust you enough to know that you wouldn’t put me in a facility somewhere. I had to get brave enough to believe in your love. This time of year is always hard for me because this is when Dad died, but then your mom,” she wiped away the tears that had started to flow again, “your mom is so nice and it brought up all the old hurt. I cried and she made me bacon and put me down for a nap. Do you know what my mom did when I cried after Dad died?”

He shook his head but he knew whatever it was, it wouldn’t be kind.

“She told me that I wasn’t allowed to cry because it was my fault he was dead. She spent the first year wandering around the house in his shirts, drinking her way through the wine cellar, talking about how she had lost the great love of her life, and I knew that I’d killed her too.”

“Nora –”

She shook her head and he stopped. “It gets better. She told everyone at the funeral that he’d died saving me. Up until then people just knew that he’d drowned, and the looks people gave me…” She shuddered and Henry felt like he’d been punched in the gut. “And then she threw herself on top of the coffin. She had him buried even though he didn’t want that.” She blinked furiously against the tears that were emerging again. “She had him buried so she could have some place to go and mourn him. So now he’s stuck somewhere,” she took a deep breath, “somewhere cold and dark and I killed him,” she scrubbed away the falling tears as pain lines emerged around her eyes and mouth again, “and it’s my fault.”

Henry clasped her face again, gently wiping away tears. For all the time they’d spent together, this was the most she’d ever talked about her parents. He had a feeling that now that these tears had started it would be a long time before they stopped again, and he was glad that they were here at his parents’ house where she could feel loved by parents again as she dealt with her past. “It’s not your fault your mother disregarded his wishes, Nora. And you know what? If your dad had to choose all over again whether or not to save you or himself, who do you think he would choose, even knowing the outcome?”

She rubbed her chest as if her heart hurt and tears dripped from her reddened eyes. “He’d save me,” she whispered.

“He would.” Henry smiled at her, wishing there was some way he could convey to her the love he had for her, to help her understand how deeply he treasured her presence in his life. “He taught you everything you needed to safely run away from home so you could do whatever you wanted with your life, even if that meant leaving him behind. He wouldn’t want you running away from your life just to go be with him again.”

“I miss him so bad.” Her face contorted as a sob ripped from her throat.

He tucked her against his chest again, placing his chin on top of her head and rubbed her back in slow steady circles, letting her feel completely enveloped in his caring. “I know you do, love.”

“She never let me cry. She never let me mourn him or visit his grave.”

“You cry as long as you want. I’ll let you cry as long as you want.”

He held her through the hysterical sobbing that left her shaking, face reddened and nose dripping. He held her as the sobs turned into quiet tears and she whispered, “I miss my Dad,” over and over. He held her as he wiped her face with the corner of the sheet he pulled loose. He held her as she rested against him, completely still except for sporadic bursts of tears that rocked her like small earthquakes. Eventually there were no more tears and still he held her, his lips pressed against her forehead, until she fell asleep for real this time.

His mother cracked the door open to see how they were coping and found them stretched out on the bed, Nora’s head tucked under her son’s chin, and Henry’s arms wrapped tightly around her, keeping her close to his heart. Nora looked more at peace than she had the entire time she’d been there, and while Henry looked peaceful, he also seemed older than he had that morning. She pulled the blanket up a little higher and quietly shut the door behind her.

 


	22. Chapter Twenty-two

Henry stood at the kitchen sink, helping Nora scrub clams. They looked clean to him, but it wasn’t his call to make, and he’d rather help than just stand and watch. “You know you don’t have to do this, right? You can rest this evening, just relax.”

Nora shook her head and tossed the clean clam into the cooler of ice. “No. I want to. It will give me something to do.”

“You could just sit on my lap and let me feed you and kiss your neck.”

Nora’s hand faltered as she reached for another clam. “Everyone will be there!”

“Yes, well since you announced to everyone this morning that I’m amazing in bed, thank you for that by the way, I’m fairly sure they won’t be surprised by me kissing your neck.”

“Yes,” she shot a look at him out of the corner of her eyes, “but you tend to get handsy when you kiss my neck.”

Henry stopped and turned to her, resting his hip against the edge of the counter. “ _I_ get handsy?

Nora blushed and slapped her hand through the water pouring from the tap, splashing him with the spray.

Henry flipped water back at her. “You’re the one who’s always pulling my shirt off, angel.”

Nora shook her hair forward so it covered her face, hiding the blush scorching her cheeks. “I can’t help it if you have an amazing chest and I want to touch it,” she muttered.

“And I can’t help it if  _you_  have an amazing chest and I want to touch it, either,” he whispered against her ear. His hands snaked around her waist as he nuzzled her neck. Nora’s eyes sagged closed as her head drooped to the side. Henry listened to her body’s encouragement and sucked the soft skin right at the base of her ear and slipped a hand under her shirt, spreading his fingers across her warm skin and squeezing.  Her fingers went slack and the clam she had been scrubbing noisily clanked into the sink, jarring her back to alertness.

“That’s why I’m not sitting on your lap and letting you kiss me!” She batted at his hand and he pulled both of them away.

Henry grinned at her and went back to scrubbing clams. “I just don’t want you pushing yourself. You’ve had a hard day.”

Her shoulders sagged and the extra color faded from her face. “I know, but it helped to finally tell someone what’s been going on in my head. The pressure is gone now, the pressure to keep it secret, the pressure to go ahead with it. I’ve been hiding in my house for years now, refusing to live anymore because I should have been dead. I kept my Brownies and my kayaking group together because those both tied me to my dad, but I’m not dead, and I need to stop living like it.”

Henry put down the scrub brush and pulled Nora into his arms again. “I wish I wasn’t leaving for Detroit in a week. I want to be there for you, be there with you.”

“You’re going to go do your training and get all ripped and then be Superman. Well, I’ve got to do some untraining.” She rested her wrists against his chest, keeping her hands from touching him as one held a clam and the other a bristle brush. “I’m never going to enjoy being the center of attention, but I would like to feel like I belong in the land of the living, and not have panic attacks as often. So I’m going to go out there with your nice family who isn’t going to laugh at me and make clams for your lovely mother, and maybe you can introduce me to your friends one at a time.”

He kissed the bridge of her nose. “As long as that’s what you want, and not what you feel like you have to do.”

 ***

Henry wrapped his arms around Nora’s waist as she stood up from the fire pit they had built together. “Hello, angel. Got any clams left for me?”

She tilted her head so he could kiss her neck which he happily did before she pointed to the table. “I saved you a bowl, and I had to smack your brothers’ hands to keep them out of it.”

He kissed her once more on her shoulder and then went to go retrieve the bowl. Nora picked up the big stick she had been using to move things over the fire and evenly spaced out the foil wrapped packets she had been placing in the glowing coals when Henry had rejoined her.

“What are those?” he asked, after scraping a clam out of its shell with his teeth.

“Banana boats.”

“What’s a banana boat?”

“Split a banana lengthwise still in its peel, stuff the slit with chocolate chips and marshmallows, wrap them in foil and thrown them in the fire until they get all melty and delicious. I put chopped pecans in some of them too.”

“That sounds delicious.”

“Well, it’s a good thing you finished your rugby match then, because there aren’t enough for everybody and I’m not sure I have the strength to fend off your brothers again.” She finished arranging the bananas to her satisfaction and then pulled a chair up to the edge of the fire. “Sit, warm your feet. They must be freezing from the cold sand.”

Henry sank into the chair and held out his hand to Nora. When she took it, he tugged her down into his lap. “I promise no neck kissing, but I want you where I can touch you.”

Nora stretched out so she could lean against him. “Did you win your rugby match?” She had shooed him off to play even though he had said he would be fine staying with her.

“Well, officially we weren’t keeping score.”

The smirk on his face meant that everyone had been keeping score in their heads. “And unofficially?”

“Yes.”

Nora laughed and looked along the length of shore that had been commandeered by Henry’s family and friends. The headlights that had been illuminating the stretch of sand that had served for the playing field had been turned off, and the only light was coming from the giant bonfire and the glowing embers at their feet. Bursts of laughter were interspersed with the snap and crackle of the logs settling as people moved back and forth between the fire and the tables, refilling plates and moving coolers full of beer closer to the fire. If looked remarkably similar to bonfires she attended back in California after a long day of kayaking.

She watched the coals glowing white and gold as Henry finished eating. “Why don’t I get these bananas out of the fire and then we can go join your friends?”

Henry’s arm tightened around her waist. “We can stay here.”

“I know we  _can,_ but I want to go be with everyone.”

He sat up straighter and turned her face so he could better see her in the gathering dark. “You want to?”

She ran her fingers over the neck of his t-shirt, brushing against the few hairs that showed above it. “I want to want to, so we’re going to go. And I probably won’t talk much, but at least I’ll be there. Just, you know, make sure I have a beer or two.”

He kissed her softly. “I’m proud of you for wanting to want to.”

Nora looked over at the bonfire and the dark silhouettes of the people moving around it and then the expanse of sand that separated it from her and Henry. “Baby steps, right?”

“One step at a time.”

Nora took longer than was necessary to make sure her fire was completely out, and she stopped halfway to the bonfire and stared at it and the people surrounding it for a minute, but Henry didn’t rush her. He simply put a hand on her back and waited. When they finally made it all the way over to the fire, they were both met with loud greetings.

“Nora, do you have any more of those clams?” someone called.

“Umm, no, so sorry. I’d only planned for Henry’s family and then all of this happened, and I’m not used to, if I’d known how many,” she stammered and Henry stepped in.

“I ate the rest of them. Sorry, mate.”

“I have banana boats, though. Again, not enough, but if you share,” she held out the tray and tried to keep her hands from shaking. “They’re hot, so please be careful.”

It took less than a minute for the tray to empty and Nora turned to Henry. “I’m going to go put this tray back with the rest of the equipment,” she said softly.

Henry tipped her face up to his. “Come back when you’re ready.” He kissed her. “But if you take too long, I’m eating your half of the banana, too.”

She managed a shaky smiled and nodded before practically running away. He kept an eye on her as best as he could in the darkness that enveloped everything outside the glowing circle cast by the fire. She stayed over at the table for a few minutes and he could tell she had sat back down in the chair, her knees tucked up under her chin. He was about to go to her when she’d been like that a minute, but just as he started to lever himself up off the ground, she stood and slowly made her way back to him and the group. She sank down next to him on the plaid blanket and he picked her up and moved her in between his legs. He handed her a beer and she took a long drink before she sagged back against his chest.

“Welcome back,” he whispered against her ear. She trembled as she took a deep breath and he wrapped an arm around her waist. “I’m proud of you.”

She only spoke a few times for the rest of the night, but she stayed with the group and he felt her relax in to him as time passed and nothing disastrous happened. Finally, the evening came to an end as the fire died down and all the fireworks had been set off. As they packed all their gear back into the car at the end of the night, several people stopped to hug Henry and thank Nora for the delicious food. One man asked her to fatten up Henry so he’d be slow enough to catch on the rugby pitch. She talked and laughed with everyone as they stopped by and Henry didn’t see her hands start to shake. When they finally got into the car, Nora leaned her head back against the headrest and closed her eyes.

“You did it.”

She nodded and opened her eyes. “No disasters.”

“Nothing even close to a disaster.”

“One down, the rest of my life to go.”

Henry lovingly stroked his fingers against her face. “You’re going to have an amazing life, sunshine.”

“I’m going to try. That’s all I can promise.”

“That’s all anyone can ask for.”

She took a deep breath and held it for several seconds before letting it out. “Can we go home now and go to bed? I’m so tired.”

“Of course.” Henry turned the key and the engine came to life and he flipped on the headlamps. As he followed the road back to his parents’ house, she rested her hand over his on the gear shift.

“I loved the fireworks tonight. I’ve always loved fireworks.”

Henry didn’t miss the way her fingertip was tracing over the veins in the back of his hand, or the slightly husky element her voice had taken on. “If you’re not too tired, we can make some of our own before we go to sleep.”

Nora giggled softly and leaned over to kiss his neck. “You read my mind.”


	23. Chapter 23

Henry shifted in his chair and pulled out his mobile to check for new messages while the scene was being reset. A smile spread across his face as he saw a video from Nora. He felt safe watching it because Nora was very careful about what got recorded, and she wouldn’t be sending him anything that he couldn’t watch in public. He tapped on the arrow and his screen was instantly crowded with familiar little girl faces. He couldn’t keep from grinning as the girls spoke over each other to update him about dogs and school and that they missed him and Miss Nora missed him too and what cookies they were having for treats, and when was he coming back and would he bring them presents? The chatter continued as Amy dropped down into the chair next to him.

She looked over at his phone. “Your fans keep getting younger and younger.”

Henry grinned. “Still older than your daughter, though.” He took a drink of water. “These girls are actually my girlfriend’s Brownie troop.”

“You have a girlfriend now? So  _that’s_ the source of the smiles you’ve been getting when you look at your phone.”

He was about to respond when Nora appeared on the screen. “The girls wanted to say hello. I’ll talk to you later when they’ve gone home. I love you!” She blew him a kiss and the video stopped.

“She’s very pretty.”

Henry smiled as his finger brushed over her face on the screen. “Yes, she is.”

“You’ve got the dopiest grin on your face I’ve ever seen.”

“She has that effect on me.”

***

Nora: I’m not sure what time I’m going to be home tonight. Maisie asked me to go out for drinks with her after the late class today and I made myself say yes.

Henry: Deep breaths, try to have fun, call me whenever you get home.

Henry checked the time when his mobile rang. Almost two a.m. She’d stayed out later than he’d thought she would. He thumbed on the call. “Hello, sunshine. How was your evening?”

“Good. I managed to knock over a couple’uh drinks but I just paid for the next round and nobody seemed to care. Do you think they really didn’t care?” She wobbled down the hall to her bedroom, one hand patting the wall reassuringly.

Henry rolled over in bed and smiled in the darkness. He could hear the buzz, both of alcohol and excitement, in her voice. “I think they really didn’t care. Drinks get knocked over all the time.”

“Have you ever had a Sapphire Sin?”

“Not that I know of.”

“It’s deeeeelishus.”

Henry chuckled. “How many of those did you have, sunshine?”

Nora stopped and thought, counting on her fingers. She started over twice. “I don’t know. My fingers won’t stand still.”

“You going to be good for work in the morning?”

Nora fell back on her bed and kicked her shoes off, hearing one thud against the wall. “No classes in the morning. All the students are going out to work as sous chefs for the lunch rush in restaurants, so I juss haffa be there by two.”

“You planned this well.”

“ _Maisie_  planned this well. She said I haffa go back out wiffem on Friday.”

“Are you going to?”

“I’m not sure I haffa choice. Maisie’s decided she’s boss of me.”

Henry had met Maisie only once before. They’d gone out to dinner with her and her boyfriend a few days before Henry had left for Detroit. She was the chef that Nora would be assisting in her classes, and they two women had known each other for three years. When Nora had excused herself from the table to powder her nose, Henry asked Maisie how much she knew about Nora’s anxiety disorder. That was when he learned that Maisie and Nora had worked in the same kitchen and she had watched Nora slowly crumble under the pressure.

“We’ve kept in contact, but she’s slowly cut herself off from everyone over the last few years. There was a group of us that used to get together a few times a month and cook dinner together and swap stories. Once she quit, she gradually stopped showing up. Now that I’m teaching rather than cooking, I called and badgered her into being my assistant.”

“She’s had some really difficult things happen that aren’t my place to share, but she’s trying to get back into having a social life and participating in things again, so if you could just keep an eye on her, make sure her anxiety isn’t eating her alive, I’d appreciate it. I worry about her being so alone.”

Maisie leaned forward, placing both elbows on the table. “On one condition.”

“What’s that?”

“You don’t let her cater her own wedding.”

Henry didn’t even bother trying to deny it. “That obvious, is it?”

“The way she talks about you and the way you look at her? I think everyone in a five mile radius can tell it’s just a matter of time.”

Henry grinned though he could feel the heat in his cheeks. “Alright, then. I won’t let her cater the wedding.”

Apparently Maisie had taken his request for help seriously. Henry chuckled. “Well, that’s nice of Maisie, but if you really don’t want to go, then you don’t have to.”

“Nah, iss gonna be fun! We’re gonna go to the movies and then each of us are making treats to sneak in. I think I’m gonna make rummi bears.”

“What’s a rummi bear?”

“Booze soaked gummi bear.”

“Of course it is,” he laughed. “Well, unlike you, I have to get up in the morning, so I need to go back to sleep.”

“Of course. I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

***

Text messages

Nora: I paid my reservation to go kayak the Grand Canyon today.

Henry: You’re still going?

Nora: Yes.

Henry: Are you sure that’s a good idea?

Nora: I’m going with a group. Marianne’s going with me so I’ll have someone there I know. Mom didn’t let me grieve Dad, and this is going to be my way of saying goodbye to him.

Henry: Does Marianne know what you’d planned?

Nora: Not yet. I’ll tell her before we go, though.

Henry: Promise me you’ll come back from this.

Nora: I promise.

***

Nora curled up around Henry’s pillow and stared out the window at the dark trees surrounding her house, the branches swaying in the wind, illuminated by the moonlight. “Am I allowed to say I miss you?” she whispered into the phone.

Henry chuckled. “Yes, you are. And I miss you, too.”

“I didn’t want to say it if it would make it more difficult for you. I promise I’m not moping around, but I do miss you. At least you’re half way done now.”

“Be glad we got three months of shooting in last summer before Affleck got hurt.”

“I think I would cry if you were going to be gone another five months.”

“You should visit for a long weekend.”

The thought of seeing Henry again made her smile, but the idea of hanging out on a crowded movie set while he worked, surrounded by people she didn’t know didn’t sound appetizing. “I don’t want to distract you. I know you must be busy.”

“I have weekends off most weeks. Please, come visit me.”

“If you really want me to.”

He closed his eyes and pictured her face. He knew convincing her to visit wouldn’t be easy, forcing her out of her shell, but he so desperately wanted to see her again. He wanted to remember what she felt like wrapped in his arms as she slept, relearn the scent of her, watch her blush and see the way her eyes lowered before she looked up at him through her lashes. He wanted to be her security blanket again. “Nora, you have no idea how much I want you to come.”

Nora giggled and rolled over on her stomach, smothering her continued laughter with her pillow.

“Yes, like that too, my little vixen.” His voice roughened as he continued to speak. “Can I make you come now?”

The giggle died in her throat. “You mean, like, over the phone?”

Henry settled back against the pillows in his bed. “At the risk of sounding clichéd, what are you wearing?”

Nora hesitated before she answered. “Nothing.”

Henry’s breath left him in a sudden exhalation. “You’re naked?”

“I got back late and took a shower and I didn’t want to wait any more before I called you.”

Henry slumped down in his bed, stretching out against the impersonal cold sheets. His hand brushed over his chest and then down his stomach. “And you’re in bed now?”

Nora nodded before she remembered that he couldn’t actually see her. “Yes.”

His abdomen rippled as his skimmed a hand over it. “Do you ever touch yourself when you think of me as you lie in bed?”

“Henry,” she whispered, her hand flying up to a cheek suddenly hot.

“Would it make you feel more comfortable if I told you that I think about you?” He tugged at the waistband of his briefs, pulling the black knit down lower.

Nora blinked several times. She had never had a man tell her that before, and while part of her was embarrassed, she also felt a scalding pour of heat shimmer down her spine and settle into a glowing pool in her pelvis. “You do?”

“Who else would I think of? It’s only you that I love. I miss your smile and the warmth of your laughter most, but I also miss the silk of your skin against mine and the sound of your pleasure ringing in my ears.” His hand skimmed back up his stomach, brushing his palm over his nipples.

“I miss you too, love. I miss the feel of your skin under my fingertips and under my lips, and seeing you throw your head back as you enter me, and again when you come.”

“If I were there with you right now, do you know what I would do?”

Nora paused and swallowed, biting her lip as she thought about whether or not she wanted to continue this teasing conversation. She decided that she did. She wanted to know what he would do if they were together in her bed, if he was as naked as her. “What?”

“I would run my hands down your legs, your muscles shifting under your warm skin as I separate them and settle myself between your thighs, and then I would lean down and lick you.” He pulled his briefs further down, freeing his cock from their constraints as he was already stiffening just from imagining her naked in the bed they had shared so often in those weeks of togetherness.

Nora gasped softly.

“I would lick you over and over, slowly, until your fingers are in my hair, pulling me closer, until you’re rubbing against my tongue, until you’re pleading for more.” Henry licked his palm and then wrapped his hand around his cock. It jumped under his hand and he began to stroke it.

“Henry,” she whispered again.

“Yes, say my name Nora; say it a little louder.”

“Henry,” she breathed out.

“Yes, just like that. Will you touch yourself for me?”

Nora slid her hand down over her stomach and pressed it between her legs. She moaned softly as she brushed her fingers over her lips, finding them already wet, and Henry sucked in a breath across his teeth at the sound.

“God, baby, it drives me crazy to think of you there touching yourself and me not getting to watch or taste you.”

She whimpered in her throat. “Henry, love, god I want you here. I want my fingers to be your fingers. I want to feel your tongue on my clit.”

Henry’s hand twitched, breaking the steady rhythm of it stroking up and down his cock. “When you visit, I will lick and suck on your clit until you’re shaking and trembling, until you come on my tongue and my fingers.”

Nora couldn’t even respond for several seconds. When she did Henry could hear the tension in her voice. “I put the phone on speaker so I could set it down.”

“What are you doing with your other hand now, Nora?” Henry didn’t follow her lead and put his mobile on speaker. He wanted to hear her right against his ear, just as if he were lying over her and her warm, panting breaths were feathering against his jaw. His hand gripped his cock tighter as he listened to her breathing becoming erratic.

“Playing with…my nipples.”

Countless images of Nora’s breasts under his mouth and hands flashed through his mind, the way her nipples tightened and her back would arch, pressing them upwards against his tongue or his hands. “Give them a twist and a tug for me, darling. Just like I would if I were there. Be my hands.”

He could hear her obey by the sharp hitch in her breath. “Henry, I want your hands. I miss your hands on my body. I miss your hands and your mouth and your cock.” She pushed two of her fingers into her pussy, rewetting them before she dragged them back up to her clit. That was where they would do the most good. They couldn’t come close to comparing to the way Henry’s cock felt inside her, the way it stretched her open with its magnificent girth, the feel of it pressing impossibly deep inside her. But her fingers on her clit could approximate the feel of his hand doing the same thing.

Her breath came in shudders as her fingers sped over her clit. The sound of Henry’s breathing growing erratic, the soft grunts of pleasure, even the slapping of his hand, drove her onward. She could picture him hovering over her, her legs hitched over his elbows as he thrust inside of her, over and over. She could see the sweat beading his forehead, his tongue visible between his parted lips as his hips slammed against her body with that little extra jolt that he needed to claw his way to the top of that mountain.

“Hen…hen…henry?” She finally cried out as her back arching up off the bed, the words breaking the interlude of them simply listening to each other’s breathing and the sounds of skin sliding over skin. Her fingers rubbed furiously and she squeezed her breast.

He missed this, that desperate need she had for him, the way her body wrapped around him, not just around his cock but the feel of her legs around his hips, or her hands grabbing his waist, pulling at him, clinging to him, “God, yes, come for me! Come for me, Nora!”

Hearing those last few strangled breaths was the last piece of the puzzle and as it fell into place, the glowing heat in her core pulsed and grew and cracked into a thousand pieces, rolling over her like a wave of glistening light. It lingered, tingling over her body as she gasped for breath, listening to Henry’s deep, almost painful sounding groan.

A few last frantic strokes of his cock and he was coming too, every muscle in his stomach tensing with the force of it, as he imagined it was her body clenched around his throbbing cock instead of his hand. Her gasps for air interspersed with his as they both sank back into their bodies, enjoying the remaining glow of blissful delight that dwelled in every nerve.

“Nora, visit me, sunshine. I miss you so incredibly much.”

“I’ll buy a plane ticket tonight.”


	24. Chapter 24

Henry pulled back into the cell phone waiting area at the airport. Nora looked at him in confusion. “Are we picking up someone else?”

Henry killed the engine and unbuckled his seat belt and undid hers as well. “Come here.”

Nora giggled and clambered over the center divider and into his lap. “I’ve missed you so,” she got out before Henry’s mouth was on hers. He had wanted to pick her up inside the airport, but Nora had wanted to avoid the commotion that his presence would have caused and insisted that he would pick her up curbside. She’d even told him he wasn’t allowed to get out of the car because she didn’t want people taking pictures. While he had agreed to wait until he got her text that she was waiting on the curb, he couldn’t wait any longer to have her in his arms.

He held her like she was something precious and devoured her like a starving man. Nora responded in kind, the skin across her chest prickling painfully as she lost the desire to breathe, caring only for the feel of him against her lips. She didn’t know where to put her hands, whether to cup his face or pull off his cap and run her fingers through his hair or if she should run them across his chest and shoulders, exploring the newly defined muscles that were straining against his shirt and so she did it all, relearning him without a beard and with shorter hair and with a new body. He was still her Henry and she pulled at the placket of his polo shirt, undoing the few buttons and slipping her hand inside as her other hand went back into his hair, searching for a grip in curls that were now missing.

Henry final pulled away enough to take a deep breath. The air left him in a huff of laughter. “God, Nora, I have missed you.”

Nora trailed her fingertips against his beard before she dropped her lips to his throat, pressing kisses to his warm skin, savoring the feel of his racing pulse against her lips. “You should probably take me to your apartment before I pull you into the backseat and have my way with you.”

“As delightful as you having your way with me sounds,” he hissed in a breath as she bit his chest and he pulled her face back up to his, “I prefer a bit more comfort than that provided by the backseat of an automobile.”

Nora stroked her hands over his shoulders, petting him like an animal. “I’m not sure you’d even fit back there. You’ve gotten even bigger since you’ve been here. Let’s go home so I can take off your clothes and get a better look.” She hummed happily as she scooted off his lap and back onto her own side of the car.

Henry’s shoulders shook as he laughed and turned the car back on. “I remember when you used to be shy.”

Two hours later, Henry licked a droplet of sweat from between Nora’s breasts. He gripped her breast as he thrust harder into her. Nora’s legs were wrapped around his waist and he grabbed one and pulled it up onto his shoulder, shifting the angle at which he entered her. An exhausted cry escaped her lips. Their first time had been frantic. He’d accidentally ripped the strap on her bra getting it off of her in his impatience and she had left nail marks down his chest and on his ass. The second time had been slow and sweet, but this time, with barely a break for water to quench mouths gone dry from panted breaths and moaned profanities, was simply fucking. He hitched up one leg, almost up on his knee to give himself greater leverage. Nora wrapped her hand around the back of his neck and pulled him down, straining up to kiss him, not caring that she was being bent in half. In fact, she found the new position let him drill deeper, fuck her harder, pressing her into the bed. The headboard pounded against the wall with every thrust as she caught his bottom lip, sucking on it before falling back on the bed. Henry turned his head so he could kiss her calf and Nora turned hers so she could suck on his forearm where it rested near her head. She ran her tongue up his arm, breaking off half way through as her head fell back.

“Henry!” she cried out as he thrust into her, a rush of new wetness coating his cock. Henry groaned at the feel of her trembling under him.

“Come for me, Nora. Come one more time for me.”

Her hips pistoned upwards, taking him deep within her with each move of his body, clenching tightly around him. Her nails raked down his chest one more time. She moved with frantic necessity, grinding against Henry so that he was touching all the right spots. She choked out his name once more, struggling to reach the second syllable, before her back arched up, her leg clamped tightly around his hips. Her fingers scrabbled against his chest, desperately seeking something to cling to and he grabbed her hands and held them against the bed as he grunted out a final few deep thrusts before he collapsed over her, resting his weight on his elbows, peppering her face with kisses until he got the strength to roll onto his back.

“You stocked up on condoms for this weekend, right?” Nora asked, hiding her face against his bicep.

Henry raked his fingers through her hair, pulling the damp strands back from her cheeks. “Yes.”

She giggled softly, and even with her face still flushed from her orgasm he could feel the new heat flooding her face as she blushed. “Good.”

***

Nora sat in her kayak, letting the Colorado River carry her downstream. She wasn’t paddling, content to follow the flow of the water as she mentally prepared for the Crystal Rapid. This would have been the most likely place for her to die. It was the hardest spot on the river and experienced kayakers were known to have difficulty with it, so no one would have suspected anything except a tragic accident if she died. Now, though, she was determined to get through it alive.

Henry being gone had been good for her, as difficult as it was and as much as she had missed him. She had spent the time going through old photos of her father, pictures from before he had met her mother, before he married and had a child. She read his journals, the story of him falling in love with her mom, the story of him falling in love with his daughter, his pride in her achievements. The legal battle over the divorce. She learned something there that she had never known. Her mother had tried to force her father to give her up for adoption. She had felt that the baby took up too much time and interfered with their relationship.

Nora had sought out the court records of the divorce and transcripts of the depositions and read about her mother saying that she was the result of a broken condom, that being pregnant was the worst months of her life, and that she resented the constant demands on her time that a child created. So her father picked her, instead of the woman that he had, at one time, been madly in love with.

The rest of his journal was filled with stories about her, many of which she had no memory of. Jumping off the bridge into the pool below at the age of four. Sitting motionless with a handful of birdseed for hours until finches would come perch on her fingers to eat. Her first panic attack at the age of seven over having to spend Christmas Eve with her mother. “She hates me, Daddy. Nothing I ever do is right. No matter how hard I try, it’s wrong. She laughs at me, Daddy. Don’t make me go.”

As she read through the pages, she learned in greater detail about her father’s care for her. That the endless hours he spent teaching her various skills were not just a way to spend time with her or share a part of himself; they were an attempt to give her the confidence to fight back against the growing control anxiety was playing in her life. He had fought the best way he knew how to keep her happy against a monster he didn’t understand. He’d even stopped dating because introducing new women to her always invoked a panicked response of, “What if she doesn’t like me?” He had dedicated his life to keeping her happy and healthy, literally giving up his life for her, and she had been about to discard all of that by giving up. She’d cried for hours and days after finishing his journal, the last entry dated just a few days before he died, talking about his hopes that going somewhere no one knew her would make her less worried about what people thought of her. If it had gone well, he had planned on selling the house and moving to Australia, starting his business over to give her a fresh start.

Now, as she heard the rapids rapidly approaching, she was determined to make this her fresh start. She had a small group of close friends with whom she was socializing more frequently. She had a job she enjoyed. They’d even asked her to start teaching her own classes and she’d nervously agreed. She had her Brownie girls. She had a boyfriend who loved her and who she loved with all of her heart. She had a therapist that was helping her work through her past and face her future. She had put her home on the market. She wanted a new house, one that she wasn’t used to hiding in. She wanted a home that she could fill with new memories. Happy memories.

Adrenaline coursed through her system as she tipped into the first section of the run. Water frothed around her as she fought to keep her craft moving forward, pushing off the rocks with the end of her paddle to keep her in the center of the line she had chosen. The water roared so loud she couldn’t hear, only feel, the pounding of her heart. The hydraulics sucked her craft down and whipped it around, flipping her under with monstrous force, and she fought her way up again, gasping for breath. The debris from the canyon formed improvised dams that scraped against the shell of her kayak, forcing her to side-stroke to work around them. Her arms ached and her lungs were on fire and still the water surged, roaring out its defiance at her attempt to pass.It sucked her under again and she came back up, spitting out water as she pulled with all her strength to work around the looming boulders. She had no idea how long it took her to work through the rapids, and she rolled at least three more times, but then, suddenly, the river was smooth again. She had done it. She looked back over her shoulder at the whipped peaks of the rapids and then flipped herself around so she was floating backwards staring at the tempest that she had successfully navigated. The roar of pounding water faded as the rapids receded. Tears began to slide down her cheeks, indistinguishable except for their heat from the river water that had drenched her. She wiped fruitlessly at her face and then turned herself back around, laughed, and began to paddle to the next set of rapids.

***

Henry: Three more weeks to go. Do you know what that means?

Nora: No, what?

Henry: I can eat whatever I want now.

Nora: I’ll overnight you cookies. Do you want a particular kind?

Henry: Those chocolate peanut salted ones I helped you make.

Nora: I’ll do that. Make sure you have a gallon of milk at the ready.

Henry: Have I told you today that I love you?

Nora: Not in the last few hours.

Henry: I love you, sunshine.

***

Henry was texting Nora to let her know he was on his way to baggage claim when she called his name. He looked up to see her jumping on him and barely managed to keep from dropping his phone as he wrapped an arm around her waist, happily holding her as she snuggled her face into his throat. “I wasn’t expecting to see you until curbside,” he murmured against her hair.

Nora relaxed her embrace enough to be able to look up at him. “I’m being brave.”

Henry kissed her softly. “I’m proud of you.”

She kissed him in return, tasting his bottom lip for a moment, and then looked around at the people who were taking pictures of Henry, and by extension, her. She grabbed his hand and squeezed. “Now let’s go before I freak out.”


	25. Chapter Twenty-five

Nora didn’t take the 405 back home. She took Highway One. The sun was shining and she could see the waves crashing on the beach and she rolled the windows down so her hair was whipping around in the wind. There were days that paying the sunshine tax to live in Southern California were totally worth it, and today was one of those days. She reached over to turn the music up when she noticed Henry watching her with a smile.

“What?”

“You look so alive,” he yelled over the wind whirling through the car.

“Zombie makeup is soooo last season,” she shouted back. He reached up to remove her hair that had blown in his face and mouth and Nora gave in to good manners and rolled up the windows. He carefully removed the last few strands that had caught on his stubble.

“I wasn’t sure what you would be like after finishing the Grand Canyon. I worried the entire week, and then when I finally heard from you, you sounded exhausted. And then we never really talked about it.”

Nora hadn’t really talked to anyone about the emotional part of the journey. The physical part she didn’t have difficulties sharing, but the emotional impact could only be understood by people who understood how bad things had gotten for her, and almost no one other than Henry did. “I…I’ve been trying to figure out how to describe it in words. I could have died if I’d wanted to, but there’s nothing like an entire river trying to drag you under and smash you unconscious against rocks the size of elephants to make you realize that you really don’t want to be dead. I mean, I knew I didn’t want to die, but fighting for it with your whole body? That’s different. And while I was there, I wrote a letter to my dad, telling him everything I didn’t get a chance to tell him, and then I burned it and took the ashes out on the river with me the next day and scattered them and said goodbye. And I know this sounds weird, but I could feel him. He gave me a hug and I felt him kiss the top of my head and he said he was proud of me.”

She glanced at Henry to see his reaction to her unlikely tale. He glided his hand up and down her thigh a few times before letting it come to a rest on her leg. “I’m glad he was there with you.”

“You believe me?”

“Of course. I’ll always believe you.”

Nora gnawed on her lip for a moment before she continued. She was so happy that Henry was back that she didn’t want to talk about anything negative and ruin the mood, but she felt like she needed to share with him. “I wrote my mom a letter too.”

“Did you mail it to her?”

“No. I burned it. It was all the stuff I wanted to say to her but never did. And I said I was done trying. I mean, she obviously doesn’t want me in her life, and it’s not like she’s ever been my mom anyway. Not like your mom is to you. So, sometimes, the brave thing to do is to quit trying. Or at least that’s what I’m telling myself.”

His hand stroked up and down her leg, reassuring her. “No, you’re right. You’re not obligated to love anyone, especially when they do nothing but hurt you.”

Nora ran a hand through her hair, finger combing out some of the tangles the wind had put in it, and smoothing it back into place. “It kind of feels like I failed.”

“Cutting your losses isn’t failing, love. It’s being smart.”

“Hopefully I’ll get to the point where I can believe that someday.” She shook herself and stretched her fingers before gripping the steering wheel again. “On a happier note, I have a surprise for you.”

Henry grinned at her. “You made cookies?” He looked in the back seat to see where she had stashed them.

“Better than cookies.”

One skeptical eyebrow rose.  “Better than cookies?” Henry’s eyes narrowed. “Is it a sex surprise?”

Nora laughed and nodded.

“Oh, what kind of a sex surprise?”

“I found a birth control that works with my anxiety meds and doesn’t turn me into a raging hulk smash of a monster.” Her first attempt at birth control pills after the forgotten condom had been disastrous. Luckily her aim had been poor or she would have had to replace the television multiple times that first week before they realized what was happening.

“What is it?”

“The Nuvaring.”

Henry’s forehead wrinkled. “I don’t know what that is.”

“It’s like a little hula hoop for your cervix. You just stick it up in there and leave it for three weeks and then you take it out for your off week.”

Henry rubbed his hand over his mouth to hide his laughter at the hula hoop comment. All he could imagine was his penis doing the hula hoop now, and he hoped that did not happen during sex. “Will I be able to feel it?”

“You’re not supposed to be able to, but I guess you’ll just have to find out.”

He paused for a few seconds before he asked the question that had popped into his mind the moment she had said she was on birth control again. “Does this mean no more condoms?”

Nora nodded.

“That was the one good thing about that week.”

Nora blushed and kept her eyes determinedly fixed on the road ahead of her. “I really liked…being able to feel you…coming,” she whispered, barely loud enough to be heard.

He trailed fingers down her jawline to her throat. “And you feel so much better than latex.” His voice had gone throaty and deep. “I’m going to have to concentrate on lasting long enough.”

Nora scratched her chest as a flush of color rose up from under her shirt and crept up her neck. “We have to change the topic now or I’m going to speed even more than I already am.”

The corner of Henry’s mouth quirked in a smile.  “Anxious to get home?”

“I didn’t even get to make out with in the parking garage because your fans followed us.” She sounded like she thought he’d put them up to it.

“We could pull over.”

Her eyes flared. “I am not making out with you on the side of the highway because that’s just a panic attack waiting to happen because a cop would stop to check on us, and that’s how I would get on the news, Henry Cavill caught snogging his girlfriend on the side of a highway cause she was so horny she couldn’t wait until they got home, and your momma would read that and I would die of shame.”

Henry couldn’t help but laugh and she smacked him in the arm. “It’s not funny. I would  _die._ ”

Henry coughed and tried to assume a straight face. “Right. We wouldn’t want that to happen.”

Nora drummed her fingers against the steering wheel. She darted a look at him and then flicked her eyes back front when he caught her looking at him. Again her fingers played over the steering wheel, completely out of tempo with the music quietly playing. When she dared another glance at him, only to shy away when she met his eyes, Henry squeezed her thigh. “Is there something going on, sunshine?”

“Just, I feel like I should ask if like, you know, it’s safe to not use condoms now.”

“Are you asking if I’m clean?”

“Maybe?” she squeaked.

He felt like he’d been punched in the gut. “I didn’t cheat on you, Nora.”

“Okay,” she quickly said.

“Were you worried that I had?”

“You’re gorgeous and famous and we’d been apart,” she explained and he cut her off.

“And none of that changes the fact that I am completely and totally in love with you.”

She tried to take a deep breath but it stuck in her throat. “Really?”

Henry recognized the sound of that breath from when her anxiety attacks were building up, and he realized how strong she must have been to never once question him about this before. Four months was a long time to be separated, and was longer than they had been together as a couple before he had left for location. “Really.” He placed his hand over hers and squeezed. “I will never cheat on you, love.”

“It’s just like…you know, someone could have sprayed you down with gonorrhea or something.”

“Sprayed me down with gonorrhea,” he repeated in amusement.

“I don’t know how crazy movie sets work and like, you listen to the news and it’s all sex and drugs and booze and stuff in Hollywood.”

He could hear the slight edge of panic still tainting her words. “Well, I was in Detroit.”

“You know what I mean.”

“I’m not really sure that I do. I’ve never been on a film set where someone was sprayed down with a disease, much less gonorrhea. And I know some of my relationships have been in the limelight, and some of them didn’t last too long, but I love you, Nora. I will never cheat on you. That’s one thing you never have to worry about. I will be faithful to you always.”

Nora was enveloped in his words and the soft smile on his face. She smiled back, the niggling fear that had caused the muscles in her shoulders and back to knot vanquished by his gentle voice. It wasn’t even that she had thought he had cheated; she still struggled with believing he had chosen her. The loud vibrations of her tires going over the rumble strip jerked her back to attention and she pulled her car back into its lane.

They talked of nothing likely to cause an accident for the rest of the way up the curving highways to their homes and Nora pulled her car into her driveway. A flash of color caught Henry’s eye.

For the second time in less than an hour, it felt like he’d been punched in the stomach. “Nora, why is there a for sale sign in your garden?”

“Because I’m selling my house.” Nora pulled into the garage and turned off the engine

She made it sound so matter of fact. “When are you moving?  _Where_  are you moving?” It was like Halla all over again; fall in love and she leaves.

“Um, I guess I’ll move when I sell the house. As for where, I haven’t even started looking yet.”

“Where do you want to move to?”

“Well, some place close by. I’m not sure if I can find a rental on the lake or not, but I’d love to keep the access to the water, and if I go too far away, I think they’ll make me give my Brownies since they are all local.”

Henry slowly relaxed. “So, not London then.”

“Why would I move to London?”

He had to talk himself down from a near panic attack this time. “Of course you wouldn’t, because you’d lose your Brownies.”

Nora turned the cabin light on so she could see his face better in the dimly illuminated garage. “Wait, did you think I was leaving you?”

This time it was Henry’s turn to blush, and his cheeks were round with embarrassment. He scrubbed his hand across his face. “Why don’t you move in with me?”

The keys fell from Nora’s fingers. “Really?”

“We were spending every night together before I left. Let’s make it official.”

Nora picked her keys back up and rubbed them in her palm, concentrating on the feel of the serrated metal to keep from panicking. She knew that eventually they would live together – married couples normally did – so why would it make a difference to actually live under the same roof now when they were sleeping under the same roof each night anyhow? “Will you let me have Brownie meetings at your house?”

“Yes.”

“And we’ll need to build a boathouse for all my kayaks and canoes.” There were a few things that mattered to her, and boats and Brownies topped the list, right behind Henry.

“And my kayak. I have one now.”

She grinned at him and Henry felt like the sun had come out from behind a cloud. “That’s right, you do.”

“And I have a feeling that I’ll end up with more than one being with you.”

“Only if you want to. I’m not going to force you to kayak.”

“The little bit I’ve done, I’ve enjoyed. And it’s something we can do together.”

Nora’s face froze and the cheer melted from her expression. “I’m going to have to learn how to share a kitchen.”

“Yes, there is that.”

“It’s going to take some effort on my part. I’m an only child and I’ve been a hermit. I’m really not used to sharing anything at all. You’re going to have to be patient with me,” she said, half way between a warning and a plea.

“Does that mean you’ll move in with me?”

Nora thought for a few seconds and then slowly nodded. “Yes. I think I will.”

Henry grinned and kissed her soundly. “I’d suggest going over to our new house and celebrating the big decision, but I have absolutely no food.”

Nora felt the heat creeping up the back of her neck again. “Actually, I went grocery shopping this morning and stocked your fridge for you. I didn’t want you coming home to an empty house.”

Henry smiled and tucked her hair back behind her ear so he could see her face better. “You’re the sweetest thing ever, sunshine.”

She hid her face in her hands. “And there’s a full cookie jar on your counter,” she muttered from between her fingers. She hadn’t expected to be there when he had discovered these things. It was so much easier to be thoughtful when no one saw you do it.

Henry leaned over and kissed her, his hand curving around the back of her head. “Are you really going to make me wait a year to ask you?”

Nora nodded. “I need the time. I can’t change a lifetime of being cautious around people in six months.”

“Okay.” He kissed her once more, soft and gentle. “But come October 15th, all bets are off.”


	26. Chapter Twenty-six

Nora didn’t open her eyes when the shadow fell over her as she basked in the sun like a contented lizard. She just said, “You’re blocking my sun.”

Henry sat down on the edge of the lounge chair next to her, running his fingers down her long warm thigh. “I think I need to lotion you up again so you don’t burn.”

“I don’t even think it’s been an hour since last time.”

“Better safe than sorry.”

“You just want an excuse to touch me all over.”

“Can you blame me?”

“No.” She reached towards his voice and flailed her hand around until it came into contact with him and then stroked over his skin until she came to his chest. Her mouth curved in a smile as she ran her fingers through his chest hair and down his stomach. “Not everyone is bold and fearless like me. I just touch you whenever I want. I don’t wait for an excuse.”

“Yes. I guess  _I’m_  the shy one in this relationship.”

She laughed at his joke, actually able to laugh about being shy instead of being embarrassed about it like she would have been last year, before she beckoned with a single crooked finger and felt his shadow block out the sunlight again. Relying solely upon the feel of her hands gliding across his warm skin, she slid her hands up across his chest, over his shoulders and linked them behind his neck. “If you’re really worried about me burning, you could just provide me with shade.”

Henry carefully settled himself over her, blocking as much of the noon-day sun as he could with his larger frame. “Like this?”

She wriggled under him, nestling herself into a comfortable spot. “That’s nice. And you’re so warm I don’t even miss the sunshine.”

“And what happens when my back starts to burn?”

“We’ll turnover and I’ll be on top.”

Henry ran his fingers through her hair, feeling it scorching hot from soaking up the sunshine. “I don’t think that would be quite as effective.”

“Why, you think you’re bigger than me or something?”

He chuckled and the sound rumbled through his chest, resonating into Nora’s body. “Or something.”

“You’d get some interesting tan lines though, if I fell asleep on top of you out here.”

“You know, if you’re worried about tan lines,” Henry tugged at the top of her swim suit, “I can think of some ways to alleviate your concern.”

She opened one eye to look at him. “Some ways, or just one way?”

“Well, I thought of one way, and then I got stuck on that thought.” His grin made him look like a boy instead of the man she loved.

“Yeah? What was your one way?”

“I was thinking I would peel this swimsuit off of you.” His eyes drifted from her face down her throat to the neckline of her swimsuit. “Possibly with my teeth.”

She opened the other eye, scandalized by his suggestion. “You can’t do that out here,” she hissed as if she would be overheard, no matter how secluded his house was.

“I’m big enough to keep you covered.”

“I know, but then  _things_  would start happening, and neither of us are particularly quiet when  _things_  happen.”

She watched his eyebrow rise and his mouth quirk, a familiar expression that had lost none of its power to make her panties dampen regardless of how often she saw it. “What kind of things?”

She was not going to get sucked into this game again. “You know what kind of things, Henry William Dalgliesh Cavill.”

“I know, but I like hearing you say them.”

His grin was no less devastating to her attempts to be serious. “You’re a very naughty boy.”

“Say what kind of things and we can go inside and be naughty together.”

Nora covered her face with both hands. “Henry,” she whispered, “I’m no good at this.”

“Nora, gorgeous sunshine of my life, you are so fucking good at this.” She shuddered at the feel of his lips against her ear.  “You have no idea how hard you get me when you talk naughty.”

She squirmed under him, pressing her hips upward as she hooked a leg around his, her foot stroking the back of his calf. “I have  _some_ idea.”

His shuddered at the feel of her lifting up against his hardening cock, and the way her shift in position had him lying in the cradle of her thighs, pushing against her just where he wanted to be. “Just say one thing.” His tongue flicked out and slowly followed the curve of her ear. “One thing for me.”

Nora bit her bottom lip. She could do this, right? She could talk about what she wanted during sex with her boyfriend, right? If not him, then who? And it’s not like she didn’t love it when he talked naughty to her, dirty words taking on an extra layer of eroticism when pronounced with his mesmerizing accent. She squeezed her eyes shut and thought of the things she liked when he said them to her, and tried to come up with a male equivalent. She slid her hands into his hair and tilted his head so she could whisper directly into his ear. “I want you,” she flicked out her tongue and barely touched the edge of his ear, “to fuck me,” another delicate lick, “with your great,” lick, “big,” a soft kiss to his earlobe, “cock.” She took his earlobe into her mouth and suckled it.

Henry noisily exhaled, the words and the feel of her tongue combining to make his eyes roll back in his head. He stood and picked up Nora, tossing her over his shoulder as he strode to their bedroom.

Nora started giggling. “Does that mean I did a good job?”

“Yes, you incorrigible little vixen.”  He turned his head and bit at the bottom of her swim suit, tugging it down her hip while growling.

Nora couldn’t stop giggling as he carried her, her head dangling down his back and getting a lovely view of his ass in the tight blue swimming trunks she’d bought him. Encouraged by his tugging at her swimsuit bottom, she grabbed the waistband of his shorts and shoved them down, freeing his bum to her view and her hands. She scraped her nails over his cheeks right before he dropped her on the bed.

Her giggling didn’t even phase him; he just finished shucking off his trunks and crawled up the bed towards her. His fingers closed over the bottom of her swimsuit and he pulled it off and her giggles just got stronger. She kept laughing until he parted her legs and pressed his mouth to her pussy, licking slowly up to her clit. Her laughter turned into a shriek as he delicately rubbed his tongue against the sensitive little nub and then her hands closed in his hair as she lifted against his mouth, pressing against his tongue.

His hands skimmed up her sides, grabbing the bottom of her tank and pushing it up to expose her breasts. He squeezed them, finding her nipples already hard, and feeling them tighten even more at his touch. He kissed his way up her stomach, her skin warmer than normal from spending the morning in the sun, while he squeezed and kneaded her full breasts. He could never decide what he loves most about her body, but her breasts were definitely in the top three or four. They fit his hands perfectly and he adored they feel of her nipples against his tongue, and she loved having them played with. It wasn’t just her nipples that were sensitive, it was the entire breast, and he could make her entire body break out in goose bumps just by trailing his fingertips along the edge of the outer curve.

He wasn’t aiming for goose bumps this time, though. He wanted to hear her moaning his name, so he kissed past her breasts, letting his hands slide down to her hips as his mouth worked its way up her throat. He lifted her bum so that their bodies aligned and sank himself into her, groaning at the feel of her wet heat enveloping his cock.

Nora hadn’t removed her hands from his hair as he had worked his way up her body, and as he slowly claimed her, her fingers curled into fists, wrapping around the waves that were making a reappearance as his hair grew out. She hadn’t engaged in much sexual activity before her life had fallen apart, and an intoxicated conversation with Maisie while Henry had been in Detroit had opened her eyes to exactly how above average her experience with Henry was. She offered a silent prayer of thanks to whichever god it was that had decided to recompense the shit life she’d had for so many years by sending her Henry, because beyond just being the love of her life, he was fucking incredible in bed. Just the feel of his cock sliding into her, the feel of her own body stretching to accommodate him, the way they fit perfectly together as she lifted her legs to wrap them around his flawless ass, it was enough to set her hips to rocking, their bodies moving together with a single goal.

Henry’s head sagged, panting for breath and control next to Nora’s ear as her hands clutched at his waist. She was the sweetest thing he had ever met and all he wanted at that moment was to bring her some small percentage of the joy she brought him every day.  His hands moved over her body, stroking and caressing her warm skin, not content to settle for the few places most men sought out. He wanted to pleasure her entire body.

“Henry,” she moaned against his ear, “I love you. I love your cock, but I love you more.”

He lifted his head so he could see her, the bright green eyes like moss shining up at him, the beauty mark on her cheek, the dark eyelashes, impossibly long against her cheeks when she blushed and hid her eyes from him, the curve of her mouth that he never wanted to see frown again. She was beauty and love and happiness all together.

“I love you, too, Nora darling.” He bent to kiss her, the feel of the heat running through his veins tempered by the sweetness of her, even in this moment of passion and raw emotion. Their mouths never separated more than the scant distance they needed to breathe as they continued, both of them too fully entwined in the other’s love to move apart.  They were flame and bellows both, their own fire being fed as they stoked the other person’s blaze, hands stroking over skin, caressing and teasing at erogenous flesh, burning in the words the other whispered against their mouth. This was their life together: Nora’s mixture of shyness and daring that gave Henry both an equal and someone to protect, and Henry’s boldness that he gentled to be the man that Nora needed while also being her partner. They were better because of each other, and when they went up in flames together, it was the best.


	27. Chapter 27

Henry paced outside the bathroom, waiting for Nora to emerge. He repeated, “I’m not going to rush her,” over and over in his head. The last thing that would help at this moment was rushing her. This was going to be her first time attending an event with him, and he’d started small, wanting to give her something to practice on before the Superman premieres started in six weeks. Though there was a carpet, it would be more casual than most, and the interviews his publicist had scheduled were for later in the evening where she wouldn’t even need to be there next to him.

The door opened and Nora slowly stepped out, her face that of an accused criminal awaiting the jury’s verdict. The first thing he noticed was that she was wearing high heels. He’d never seen her in heels before. They were high, too. His eyes travelled up her legs to where her dress started, the full skirt swirling around her knees narrowing in to a fitted bodice with a wide square neckline and long sleeves that belled around her hand before fastening into delicate cuffs around her wrists. The black silk was set off by gold jewelry, a set of stacking rings on one finger, each with a different colored stone, a double strand around her neck with various sized quatrefoil stations on each chain, and faceted rectangles of mother of pearl dangled from her ears. She was beautiful but unremarkable, dressed to fade into the background, which was just how she liked it.

“Should I change?” Her hand went to her hair, smoothing over the loose waves that were pinned back.

He blinked, realizing he had just been staring at her. “No. You look beautiful. Absolutely perfect.”

“Are you sure? It was hard to find a dress that wasn’t too fancy but that would leave me feeling covered without making me look like the mother of the bride.”

“I’m positive, sunshine.” He went to her and kissed her softly, not wanting to smudge her makeup. “You’re lovely.”

Nora took a deep breath and let it out. It was only a little shaky.

Henry held out his hand to her. “Ready for this?”

She picked up her clutch and put her hand in his. “As ready as I’m going to be. I had half an Ativan and a glass of wine while I was doing my hair.”

“Is that safe?”

She giggled, a slight edge of hysteria to the sound. “Gonna find out. I’m hoping to work my way down to just needing the wine in a few years.”

The car ride was quiet. Nora counted her breathing in her head to keep from hyperventilating and Henry, used to her practicing her doctor-recommended breathing routine every night, didn’t disturb her. By the time they got to the event, Henry was antsy, needing to get out and move and talk to anyone, but he helped Nora from the car and stood with her for a few moments. “Just remember, all you have to do is smile.”

“And not fall over.”

Henry kissed her forehead. “Since Jennifer Lawrence at the Oscars, I think even falling over isn’t a big deal.”

“Just don’t let go of me, alright?” She tightened her hand around his.

Henry squeezed back and smiled, wishing he could calm her more. Her eyes were open a little too wide to be natural, and her breathing was accelerating. “Of course not.”

Nora followed Henry as he was guided by an assistant. They stopped in front of a logo emblazoned backdrop and flashes started popping. She smiled, thought of Henry in his underwear, and smiled some more. And then they walked a few more yards down the carpet and repeated the process. By the third time they did this, she looked up at Henry. “Is this really all there is to it? You just stand here and look pretty?”

“No,” he grinned down at her. “ _I_  look handsome.  _You_  look pretty.”

She touched his chin lightly, a genuine smile on her face. “You know what I mean, you big goober.”

“What did you think it was going to be like?” They had talked about what would happen tonight in exhaustive detail, but he had learned that when she was perseverating about something that worried her, rationality didn’t always help.

“I kind of thought that there would be questions yelled at me and if I answered them wrong there would be loud laughter and pointing.”

“No. That’s just for me later when I get interviewed.”

“Hmm.” She looked out at the cameras documenting every second of their existence. “They’re less scary than a class five rapid.”

He kissed her temple, evoking a meteor shower of flashes. “I’m glad you think so.”

Later that evening as they were in the back seat of the car as the driver took them home, Nora snuggled into Henry’s side, no longer worried about wrinkling her dress or mussing her hair.

Henry wrapped an arm around her, kissing the top of her head. Even though she was cradled against him, there was still tension in her body. Her spine was stiff, instead of the usual boneless relaxation she normally acquired when they cuddled. He rubbed his hand up and down her back, hoping to accelerate her relaxation now that the dreaded event was vanquished. “You survived your first Hollywood event, darling.”

“I did. We should celebrate.” She tilted up her head until she could brush her lips against the corner of his jaw.

“What did you have in mind?”

“How sound proof is that barrier?” She pointed at the opaque glass that separated them from the driver as she ran her other hand down his chest and cupped him through the soft wool of his suit trousers.

It was Henry’s turn to have problems breathing steady. “Nora,” his hand closed over hers after a few moments, stopping the stroking motion of her fingers, “as delightful as that feels, it does seem a bit out of character.”

“Don’t you want to have a little bit of fun?”

“Nora, what’s going on? You’re not the type to give a blowjob in the backseat.”

She pulled her hand away and sat in silence for a few moments before scooting across the seat until she was touching the door. “Isn’t that what I’m supposed to do?”

“According to whom?”

“The conversations I overheard. Fluff you on the way over, finish you off on the way back.”

Henry rubbed his hand over his mouth, wondering who in the world she had listened to while he was doing interviews. He had left her with some of his friends while he had gone off to do publicity, but when he came back she had been by herself, sipping a glass of champagne. He was going to have to do a better job of making sure she knew people at these things. “I don’t know who you overheard, but I don’t want you to do anything you don’t want to. If you really want to have sex in this backseat, I’m sure I can figure out a way to make that wish come true. But if you’re doing this out of some sense of should, then no.”

“I can go and stand there and look pretty, but I don’t fit in. I don’t think I can be a Hollywood wife.”

He reached across the canyon separating them and took her hand. “Nora, please look at me.” He waited until she lifted her face enough so that she was looking at his face, though still not meeting his eyes. “I don’t want a Hollywood wife.”

Her eyes flickered up the remaining distance to meet his and he saw the source of the remaining tension in the fear and sadness there. “But you’re an actor.”

“I’m an actor because I love to act, not because I want the crazy lifestyle that goes along with it. We’ll make our own way together, and I’ll do my best to make sure you spend more time on a mountain bike than in Manolos.”

Nora let out a short heavy sigh and then turned so her back was against the door and hesitantly placed her feet upon his lap. She had taken off the high heels the instant they had gotten back in the automobile. “Seriously, how do women wear those all the time? I feel like my toes got amputated with no anesthetic and a dull knife.”

Henry wrapped his hands around her feet and began to rub, working his thumbs up the arches, eliciting a moan from her that would have sounded right at home if they were having sex back here. His mind spun, trying to figure out exactly what to say to convey the feelings of his heart and eradicate the fear that had taken root in her heart tonight. Miles passed as he rubbed her feet, watching her relax against the seat, her eyes drowsily closing, her breathing becoming slow and steady. He almost felt bad about speaking and disturbing her peace, but he needed to tell her how he felt. “I love you, Nora. You, with your long sleeves and knee length skirts and delicate jewelry and the shyness that I adore about you because it makes your trust of me even more precious. I love who you are even if it means that we’ll never have backseat sex because it also means that we’ll make love in tents and hotel rooms and yurts and under the stars when we’re the only two people in a hundred square miles and in the bed that we’ll share for the rest of our lives. You grew up in Southern California surrounded by all the glitz and money, but you saw how I grew up. We had enough money, but family was always the most important thing to me. I don’t want a Hollywood wife. I don’t want a Hollywood marriage. I want you. ”

He heard rather than saw her wipe away a few tears as there was no light coming in from outside as the car made its way through the forested hills towards their home. “Well that’s good, because I don’t think I could do that. I don’t think I could be that person. I can go to your things and stand there at your side and smile and make polite chit chat. But I’m not flashy. I’m not temporary. I’m granite and bedrock, not diamonds and glitter.”

The comparison made him smile as he thought back to what he had once considered love. “I tried glitter once. We didn’t suit.”

“So you’re okay waiting until we get home to have sex?”

He slid across the seat, shifting her feet so her legs were now draped across his lap, and looped his arm around her, bringing her against his chest again, curled within the protection and safety of his arms. “Nora, darling, as long as home is with you, nothing else matters.”


	28. Chapter 28

Henry stared at the time on his mobile. 11:59. It had been 11:59 for approximately three hours now. The glowing rectangle made it possible for him to see Nora’s face as she slept, her back pressed up against his side, using his bicep as a pillow. He let his head drop back down onto the pillow and waited some more, listening to Nora breathe and the breeze blowing around the house and stirring the trees. Nora loved sleeping with the doors to the balcony open, something that had surprised Henry, but she only did it when he was home.

He picked up his mobile again and thumbed it on. 12 o’clock. Finally. He put the mobile back down and opened the drawer of his nightstand, reaching in to extract a small box that he had placed there earlier tonight, moving it from where it had remained hidden inside a pair of socks in the back of a drawer for the previous three months. He carefully brought his other arm around to help him open the box and remove the ring inside before he returned the box to the drawer. Making more of a production of it than normal, he turned on his side, pressing his chest to Nora’s back and waiting for her to wake as he moved his arm that she was using as a pillow.

Unfortunately for Henry, she didn’t even open her eyes, merely scooting down in the bed until she found a comfortable spot again and going back to sleep.

“Nora,” he whispered.

She sighed but made no other indication she had heard him.

“Nora,” he repeated a little louder. She rolled over and snuggled into his chest, draping her arm over his waist. “Sunshine?”

“Hmmmm?” she asked, the tip of her nose against his sternum.

“Do you know what time it is?”

“Check your phone,” she mumbled.

Henry tried not to laugh. Even though she got up every morning with the sun, she had the remarkable gift to be soundly asleep until that time. “No, darling. I know what time it is. I was wondering if you did.”

Nora’s head rolled back and she opened one eye, only to find her view obscured by her hair. She attempted to blow it out of her face, but when that failed she swept it messily away. Her head lifted enough to look out the floor to ceiling windows that surrounded half of the bedroom. “It’s dark o’clock,” she muttered and her head flopped back down, her eye closing again.

“It’s 12:01am.”

Nora grunted.

“Do you know what that makes it?”

She patted his face with one hand, finding his mouth and pressing her palm over it. “The middle of the night?”

He gently removed her hand. “Well, yes.” This was not going as he had planned. Maybe he should have just waited until morning, but he didn’t think he could lie awake for another six hours without going crazy. This was worse than Christmas Eve. “Do you know what else it is?”

She flopped over onto her back and yawned widely before opening one eye to look at him. “Why don’t you tell me?”

“It’s Thursday.” He waited for dawning recognition to appear on her face but was instead met with her eyelid sagging closed. “Thursday, October fifteenth.”

Again nothing. But a few seconds later both eyes popped open. “It’s October fifteenth,” she repeated.

Henry cheered internally. Now they were both on the same page. “Yes, it is. Do you know what that means?”

She nodded several times. “It means we’ve been dating a year now.”

“And do you know what  _that_  means?”

She sat up and ran her fingers through her hair, combing it into order. “You can ask me to marry you now.”

“That’s right.” She looked so expectant that he couldn’t help but tease her. “I just wanted to make sure you knew that. Goodnight.” He flopped back onto his pillow and closed his eyes.

There was three seconds of complete silence before she responded. “Henry. William. Dalgliesh,” she got out before he started laughing and held up the ring in front of her. His last name faded to silence on her lips as she saw it. Henry turned on the lamp so she could see better and so he could see her face in more than silvered moonlight when he finally got to ask the question he’d been waiting to ask for months. They were cast into a small warm circle of light, making the golden strands in her hair glimmer and letting the ring shine. He’d known it was the one the moment he had seen it, much like it had taken him so little time to know that Nora was one as well. A cushion cut yellow diamond wrapped in a bezel of gold, simpler and smaller than the rings he saw on many women, but perfect for her.

He sat up as well and leaned forward to kiss her gently. “Nora, my sunshine, my love, will you marry me?”

Her eyes glimmered in the light as she nodded. “Yes,” she whispered before a radiant smiled broke over her face like the sun coming over the mountains. “Yes, Henry. Yes, yes, yes.”

He slipped the ring on her finger and she tossed her arms around his neck before he lowered her gently into the pillows. Kisses slowly turned into more, just as the two of them would turn into more; first husband and wife, and then mother and father, and eventually, as the years turned into decades, grandparents. He was her shelter, and she was his sunshine, and the cookie jar was never empty.

_The End_

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